A bouquet, a packet of sweets, a love letter and a book on the Constitution — these are the gifts that a group protesting the new citizenship regime wanted to hand to Amit Shah on Sunday.
The Union home minister, however, missed the items since the group was not allowed anywhere near his rally venue — the Shahid Minar ground.
The protesters held a meeting at Ramlila Maidan on CIT Road, one of the several gatherings across Calcutta during the day to protest Shah’s visit to the city, Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens, National Population Register and the violence in Delhi.
As the 400-odd people at Ramlila Maidan — around 2km from Shah’s rally venue — came out on CIT Road, they were confronted with police barricades. The protesters did not put up any fight and, instead, dropped their plan to march till the rally venue.
Wali Rahmani, one of the leaders of the Ramlila Maidan protest, stood on a Matador and displayed the gifts for Shah. “Hatred can only be fought with love. This bouquet of roses carries the message of love. It welcomes Amit Shah. He may have hatred for us, but we will only offer him love,” said Rahmani, a law student in Delhi.
The protesters wanted to offer sweets to the home minister in the hope that he would utter some sweet words and not spew venom at the rally, Rahmani explained.
The “love letter” had some harsh words, too — it blamed Shah, the boss of the Delhi Police, for the carnage and arson in the national capital.
“The letter points out that Bengal is the land of Tagore and Kazi Nazrul, who staunchly stood against any form of hatred. We wanted to gift him a book on the Constitution because we want the minister to know what is actually written in the Constitution,” the youth said.
Protesters at the ground held posters that read: “You spread hatred, we spread love”. “Azaadi” slogans rang out loud.
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Darakhsha Akhtar, a commerce graduate who is studying to become a chartered accountant, said she felt it necessary to attend all such protest meetings to ensure Calcutta is spared the violence that has wreaked Delhi.
“We have seen what happened in Delhi. I do not want that to happen in Calcutta ever. So, I think everyone must come out and attend protest rallies such as this,” said the 22-year-old Kidderpore resident, who joined the Ramlila Maidan protest with five of her friends.
One of Darakhsha’s friends held aloft a hand-written poster that read: “I love my country but I am ashamed of my government”.
There were others like Lopamudra Chatterjee who felt that as a member of the majority community, it was her duty to protest the kind of majoritarianism that the BJP and RSS are promoting.
“They are now targeting one minority community. A few days later, they will start targeting the other minorities, too. They are killing the basic rights of the minorities. This is exactly what majoritarianism is,” Lopamudra, who teaches English at a school, said.
The 29-year-old, who has attended many rallies against the citizenship matrix, said the violence in Delhi made her more determined to oppose majoritarianism.
“I refuse to call it riot. It was a pogrom, sponsored by the state,” she said.
Around 300 people gathered at Ramlila Maidan to protest the amended citizenship regime. The Telegraph spoke to some of the protesters
Surya Subha Banerjee, 35, teaches English at a school
“If I do not protest against CAA, NRC and NPR, I will be doing so because of my privilege of being a Hindu. But I do not want to sit back and enjoy that privilege. The Centre has selective amnesia. They forget the hate speeches made by Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur, but do not forget to push for the trial of Kanhaiya Kumar. What hate speech did Kanhaiya deliver? I want to protest against this discrimination, too. I also want to ask Mamata Banerjee why is she so silent today?”
Shreya A, 30, writer. She has attended several rallies against the citizenship matrix, including one in Bangalore
“We have to keep protesting because there is no other choice. We have to force the government to pay heed to the protests and repeal the CAA. And I hope that would happen because we, as a country, can still work as a democracy. We cannot stand back after what happened in Delhi. Some people are calling it a riot, but it is a pogrom. It was completely state-sponsored. After the Delhi pogrom, they are blaming Muslims. They are on a hunt for Tahir Hussain, but I think what this man did was essentially in self-defence. I am here because he (Amit Shah) should know that people in Calcutta stand against hate-mongers like him.”
Faiz Ahmed, 36, an engineer with a software company
“Many of my friends tell me that I am anti-India because of my protest against the NRC, NPR and CAA. I cannot convince them that I am not anti-India. I am protesting this law and many actions of this government. How does protesting against a government make someone anti-India? I am really concerned because I have my parents, three brothers, my two children and my wife at home. If the NRC is prepared and any one of them is left out, what will happen to him or her? He/she will be thrown into a detention camp and I have to watch that.”
Saqlain Shakil, 20, an undergraduate student of history
“There is a temple of Lord Shiva opposite our home. I have never thought that the temple belongs to people who are different from me in any way. There are Hindus and Muslims in the locality. We have not bothered about who is Hindu and who is Muslim. But the CAA is so discriminatory that it is making us feel that we are different from the people of another religion. Why should that happen? It is against our Constitution’s soul, which is secularism.”
Other protests
Supporters of Left parties and Congress held a demonstration near the airport, at the intersection of VIP Road and Jessore Road, to protest Shah’s visit. They shouted slogans such as “Amit Shah go back” and “Bengal won’t give a rioter a foothold”, and accused Shah of orchestrating last week’s Delhi violence.
Protests were also held in Esplanade, Santoshpur and other areas. In Esplanade, protesters had a scuffle with the police.