Rehana Shabnam, 45, a homemaker in Wasseypur, does not claim to know a lot. “I only know that I have grown up hearing the sounds of temple and church bells, Azaan from the mosque and Gurbani from the gurdwara. I hear them and feel I can get sound sleep,” Shabnam said.

Now, with “divisive politics”, this harmony is under threat, said the homemaker who has studied up to Plus Two and is part of the dharna against the CAA, NRC and NPR since January 2 at Ara Mor, some 5km from Dhanbad district headquarters.

She added that generations of people like her have received and given Diwali laddoos and sewai on Id. “It’s always been like this here, exchanging sweets on festivals, marriage invitations...this is how we live.”

“In our country, we have survived natural calamities and external aggression because of mutual coordination, amity, and harmony among people of all religions,” Shabnam said. “And now this,” she said, referring to the amended citizenship law that she feels is “simply drawing lines”.

Sufia Parween, 20, an undergraduate student of sociology at PK Roy Memorial College, agreed. “As a student of sociology I can claim that the harmony with which people of different religions live in our country is unmatched. I’m fearful about the losing this harmony with the discriminatory CAA, NRC and NPR. That’s why I am at the dharna.”

Meenu Parween, 22, a history undergraduate student at GN College, Dhanbad, said history was replete with instances of how Muslims and Hindus had fought together against the British. “All the attempts of foreign rulers to divide us in the name of religion failed because of the strong social bonding. We will not allow this bond to break,” she said.

Another homemaker of Wasseypur, Ishrat Parween, 30, called the NRC, CAA and NPR pure distractions. “Any housewife of any religion knows how prices have risen, how difficult it is to save money,” she said. “Jobs are few, businesses are shrinking and here you have needless things to divide society.”

Maulana Mubarak Hasan, 50, of Ayesha Masjid in Wasseypur said when there was a Census every 10 years, “what was the logic behind the NPR under which several information related to genealogy would be sought and proof of documents will be needed.”

He added: “Our forefathers were born and brought up in this land and sacrificed their lives to secure freedom from foreign rulers. Now we are asked to submit proof of our citizenship? We have every right to protest.”