By: Express News Service | Mumbai |
Updated: December 20, 2019 three:56:18 am
At a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on Carter Road on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)
An enormous protest rally was taken out against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens within the textile city of Malegaon on Thursday morning. The rally was attended by 60,000 individuals, the police stated. Shops and faculties within the space remained shut as a part of the protest.
The rally was organised by Dastoor Bachao Committee (Save Constitution Committee) and was backed by Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and Republican Party of India (RPI). The march by means of Malegaon was preceded by a public assembly on Wednesday night time at which audio system denounced the Act as communal and divisive.
On Thursday, 1000’s of energy loom employees, in addition to college students attended the rally, condemning the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as a “kaala kanoon” and demanding that it’s repealed.
The protest march began from Malegaon Fort round 10 am and ended at Shahidon ki Yaadgaar at 1.30 pm, a distance of about three km. “Our ancestors were part of the freedom struggle against the British. Now, we are asked to prove our allegiance to the country. The Act should be repealed,” stated Mohammed Yusuf Iliyas, of the Taluka Malegaon Powerloom Sangharsh Committee, in his tackle to the rally.
Maulana Umrain Mahfooz Rahmani, convener, Dastoor Bachao Committee and secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, speaking to a big crowd gathered in Malegaon stated, “December 19 is a historic day. It is a day the British hanged two freedom fighters Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil. We are their descendants. If the need arises, we are willing to sacrifice our lives to save the country.”
“This Bharat [India] is far dearer to us than our children,” Rahmani stated. “We are not children of those who sold the country’s secrets. We are not children of those who grab power by harming the country. We are not children of those who create rift between Hindus and Muslims for saving their chair and power. We are children of those who had said that if need arises, even our five-year-old children will shed the last drop of blood to save the country,” he stated.
He suggested PM Narendra Modi, a “globetrotter”, to go to the museum of Egypt during which the mother of Ramses II, the third Pharaoh, is preserved to study that “power doesn’t last forever”. “The corpse of Pharaoh narrates the tale of pride, ego and stubbornness,” he stated.
Mufti Mohammed Ismail, legislator from Malegaon and chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, stated the BJP was doing “what even Muslim rulers didn’t attempt for 700 years”.
“The new law has been brought on the basis of religion and is a clear violation of Article 14 and Article 15 of Indian Constitution,” Ismail stated.
Dr Saeed Farani, surgeon, who additionally spoke on the rally, stated, “The Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed NRC are akin to an attack on country’s spine”.
Prakash Ambedkar, whose VBA took half within the protest, stated: “The CAA is just an eyewash. What has raised the apprehensions is NRC. There is a lot of fear amongst the people about the NRC. And therefore we saw tremendous response across the country with people taking to streets to voice their protest.” The VBA is getting all of the like-minded organisations to unite on this battle against the suppressive act, he added.
Arti Singh, Superintendent of Police, Nashik (rural) stated, “Three days back we received a memorandum from the organisers about the protest march. We had carried out a ‘route march’ where policemen along with a certain number of locals took the same route to see if there were any problems along the route that needed to be addressed. We knew there was going to be a big crowd and hence wanted to ensure that there were no irritants along the way.”
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