A march from St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday drew people from all faiths, who expressed solidarity with those besieged by the Narendra Modi government’s citizenship overdrive. As the marchers wound their way towards Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on Mayo Road, an extraordinary sight unfolded at a bus stop along Chowringhee Road. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…,” a man at the bus stop kept telling the marchers.

The march gets ready to start from St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Later, he identified himself as Nuruddin Laskar, a 50-year-old madarsa teacher from Mathurapur in South 24-Parganas. Nuruddin told The Telegraph: “Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs have fought together for the Independence of the country. It is both our right and our responsibility to be here in this country. This is our nation. If the government is creating divisions among its people, it is wrong. I was happy to see educated people walking on the streets of Calcutta protesting against the NRC (National Register of Citizens) and the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act)…. This should have an effect. I can only say ‘thank you’ to all these people.”