Roshana Karim
Mousumi Sarkar
Suphee Biswas
Yashasvi Gaur
Hundreds of transgender, queer and other people marched from Shahid Minar to Hedua on Friday to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens as well as discrimination against minorities. The Telegraph spoke to some of the marchers
Soham
Roshana Karim
Homemaker from Taltala
I have never participated in rallies earlier but this is my third in a row, courtesy the NRC and the CAA. My son told me that there was one today and despite the rain I chose to join. The CAA and the NRC will not only harass Muslims but also people from other communities and the poor will be the worst hit. I am scared not because I don’t have any document but there might be relatives who might not have any. It is for citizens like us to bring down this government.
Soham
Undergraduate student with a rainbow flag
Queer people are often thrown out of their families once their gender identity comes to the fore. My walk is an assertion of my identity. A gendered or varied identity in a country like India is a kind of burden. The CAA and the NRC will be another burden added to our cake. It makes us doubly marginalised.
Mousumi Sarkar
Attached with a women’s organisation
I am here to raise my voice of protest against those stifling the voices protesting the CAA and the NRC. There are women who are marginalised and they will be further marginalised by the CAA and the NRC. It is also an attempt to stifle people’s voices. How can there be an act based on religion… it completely destroys the secular fabric of the nation.
Yashasvi Gaur
MPhil student at Jadavpur University
I am walking with other students to reclaim our motherland and our constitutional rights. We do not want a Hindu state. We have seen men occupying streets, we have seen women occupying streets and now we are seeing transgender people occupying streets to voice their protest. I am here as a citizen… and we want our constitutional right back — the right to protest.
Suphee Biswas
Attached with a rights organisation
Society and the government treat us as marginalised and we are socially excluded. We are treated as minorities but not given minority privileges. Many transgender people don’t get jobs… they are forced to beg at traffic signals. The CAA and the NRC will marginalise transgender people all the more because there are many who are poor and they don’t have any document to show.
