Responding to the call of Samvidhan Bachao Desh Bachao, over 5,000 people on Sunday gathered at Urs Maidan in Doranda in Ranchi to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), impressing former JNU student leader Umar Khalid.
On Saturday too, over 5,000 protesters had turned up at Bariatu Pahari Maidan.
On Sunday, many Muslim women also attended the four-hour-long meeting with men.
Khalid, in his address, said women were protesting against the amended citizenship laws not only at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, but elsewhere too. “Women are actually at the forefront of the resistance in many places across the country and they deserve our salute,” Khalid said.
He added that Jharkhand was not new for him as he visited Singbhum for his research on the Ho tribe.
“People of Jharkhand are sensitive, they recently removed the BJP state government because of its misdeeds,” Khalid said, pointing out that Jharkhand under BJP rule stood out for ills like lynching.
Briefing people about the “discriminatory” citizenship law and implications, he said he appreciated people’s tireless protests. Other speakers included the CPI-ML MLA Vinod Singh, former CPI MP Bhuvneshwar Mehta, tribal activist Dayamani Barla and Maulana Qutubuddin Rizvi, one of the organisers of the meeting.
