Anger, sadness, mistrust and a sense of betrayal, several emotions linked to the fast-changing character of India found expression in a rally against the amended citizenship regime on Tuesday, one of the biggest in the city on the issue.
The rally started from Ramlila Maidan in Moulali around 2.30pm and its head reached in front of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation headquarters on SN Banerjee Road around 4pm.
Prasenjit Bose, a convener of the Joint Forum Against NRC, which organised the rally, exhorted the marchers to sit on the road in front of the CMC office.
“We will sit through the night. We will do chowkidari of the Constitution and secularism. This will continue till the Supreme Court takes up the petitions against CAA-NPR-NRC,” Bose announced.
“This is huge,” a police officer told The Telegraph near the CMC headquarters, referring to the turnout. Lalbazar later put the count at over 13,000.
Hundreds of Tricolours fluttered under the canopy of trees dotting the road that connects Moulali with Esplanade. Over a third of the marchers were women, often out-shouting the men in sloganeering.
One of them was Saleha Khatoon, a burqa-clad homemaker from Rajabazar. She was carrying a poster that she wrote last night. “Democracy is not the law of majority but protection of the minority,” it read. “I had learnt this when I was in school. It seems Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have forgotten this.”
Shariq Jilani (left), an IT professional, had come with friend Asgar Ali. Jilani reminded how Modi spoke of “changing the lives of Muslim sisters”. “Lakhs of his sisters are now on the streets. If he has courage, he should listen to them,” said Jilani.
People had come from all parts of the city and there were several mini-rallies inside the rally. “Gandhi-wali, Ambedkar-wali, Maulana-wali, Nehru-wali aazaadi,” shouted one group in the middle. “Modi-Shah se ucha bol, halla bol, halla bol (Shout louder than Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, make noise),” roared another group behind them.
A third group had several young men standing in a row with a noose around their necks. “The government is trying to strangle us. But we will fight and secure justice,” said one of them.
Walking beside him was neighbour Mohammad Jamaluddin, a retired employee of a PSU. “This is a state-sponsored attack on our basic rights,” said Jamaluddin, 62. He said he was walking so that he was “not ashamed to look into the eyes of his grandchildren”.
A businessman who did not want to be named said his 7-year-old daughter would earlier get frequent birthday invites from classmates. “Only a handful invite us now. Many we invite on her birthday do not turn up,” he said.
Shahil Hanif (right), a manager in a BPO, had taken a day’s leave to join the rally with neighbour Mohammad Jamaluddin. The resident of Sharif Lane in Taltala gave an example to highlight the “polarisation in society”. Till a year ago, Hanif regularly took nehari — a stew of slow-cooked meat made especially in winter — from an eatery on Zakaria Street to his office. “My colleagues, several of them Hindus, loved the dish. But of late, some have stopped eating it. Without saying anything, they avoid me,” said the 54-year-old
A protester holds a placard that reads: Democracy is not the law of majority, but protection of minority
“When I pray, my head touches this land, not a piece of land in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Why am I being asked to go to Pakistan then?” asked Sohail Khan, who works at a printing press. Khan had come to the rally with his wife Sufiya and children Sireen, 6, Shoaib, 4, and 18-month-old Sunehri
A protester holds a poster that depicts the early and later lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi
