Thousands Protest Against CAA, NRC, NPR At Mumbai's Iconic Azad Maidan

Thousands of people, including a large number of women, on Saturday gave a call against the CAA-NRC-NPR regime at Mumbai's Azad Maidan amid recitation of Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz's popular poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ and slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

The “maha-morcha” protest was organised by the Maharashtra chapter of the ‘National Alliance Against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR)’.

The participants came to Azad Maidan from various parts of Mumbai and the extended suburbs like Navi Mumbai, Thane as well as other parts of Maharashtra. Waving the tricolour and holding banners denouncing the CAA-NRC-NPR in their hands, the protesters raised slogans like “Modi, Shah se Azadi” (freedom from PM Modi and Amit Shah) and “freedom from the CAA and the NRC”.

Protestors participate in a rally against #CAA_NRC_NPR at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.#IndiaAgainstCAA_NPR_NRC #DrKafeel_ko_RihaKaro #JusticeFor_JammuKashmir @IndiasMuslims pic.twitter.com/48eRWVh21r

— faizan (@faizan0008) February 15, 2020

The protesters resolved against showing any documents (during the NPR exercise or otherwise), saying that they are citizens of India since time immemorial. Resolutions against the CAA-NRC-NPR regime were also passed on the occasion.

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They demanded that the new citizenship law be repealed in the current Parliament session. At the stage at Azad Maidan, speakers recited noted Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz's famous Urdu poem “Hum Dekhenge” (We will see), which has of late emerged as a kind of anthem for the anti-CAA protests in the country.

Women protesters raised slogans like “Hum betiyan hain Jhanshi ki rani ki aur Mata Jijau Ki”. Convener of the protest, Justice (retired) Kolse Patil, social activist Teesta Setalvad, actor Sushant Singh, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi etc. were present on the occasion.

Speaking at the rally, Sushant Singh said: “When I was shooting for ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’, I hadn't thought I would get to see a revolution. You all have fulfilled that dream and I thank you for this”.

“I was listening to an interview of the home minister where he said that everyone has the right to peacefully protest in the country, but no one should burn buses and that whosoever has burnt the bus should be punished,” he said.

Singh further said: “Today, I would like that we all pay our tribute to that one burnt bus because in our country, people can be killed, afterall there are so many... Kill them in UP, Bihar, put curfew in the entire Kashmir and Assam but buses are less, they shouldn't have been burnt.

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“Let’s fold our hands in paying tribute to that bus and in return you put NSA on Dr Kafeel Khan and put him behind bars. Beat up students of Jamia and JNU, fire shots, pull gunshots in Assam because people are more and buses are so less... Let's pledge to not burn buses,” he said.

Singh said he was thinking that they would cause another Mahabharat where we will fight as Pandavas and Kauravas, "but then I thought that there's actually a new Ramayana that is being written. The difference is that this time that they have tried to kidnap the name of Lord Ram".

“This time it will be the ‘Sitas’ of this country who will burn their Lanka. And behind the ‘Sitas’, there are Bajrang Bali and Ali standing shoulder-to-shoulder. And guiding us would be Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, Jesus, Guru Nanak, Buddha, Mahavir Bhagwan. Come, let's fight,” he added.