Touseef Ahmed Khan

A man from Barasat carried a poster that read “C-Communalism, A-Alienation, A-Annihilation; say no to CAA”.

A man who carried a poster that read “C-Communalism, A-Alienation, A-Annihilation” to an advocate who believes that the students have come out on the streets “to force the government to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC)”, hundreds hit the road on Monday afternoon, marching from College Square to Esplanade. The Telegraph spoke to some of those who walked

Shounak Mukhopadhyay Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta

Poster power

A man from Barasat carried a poster that read “C-Communalism, A-Alienation, A-Annihilation; say no to CAA”. “The act seeks to stoke communalism, alienate and annihilate the Muslim community. The poster reflects this evil design,” said the man who did not want to be named.

He said he was overjoyed to see students across campuses raising their voice against the acts. “As I came to the march, one of the students handed me this poster that aptly depicts the gravity of the situation,” he added.

Brothers in arms

Touseef Ahmed Khan, an advocate at Calcutta High Court, wanted to make the government and the court realise that students have launched a civil disobedience against “black acts”.

“We want to show the court and the administration that students are opposing the black acts. No negotiations on that. Simply repeal CAA and NRC,” said Touseef, who completed master’s in law from the University of Sheffield, England. “As many as 65 petitions have been filed in court against the black acts. I hope the court will give a favourable judgment on these issues.”

With him was his brother Tafwwej, a student of BTech at the Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore.

Beyond boundaries

Shounak Mukhopadhyay, a student of film studies at Jadavpur University, joined Monday’s rally without bothering to check who had given the call. “I came to know this morning that a rally would start from College Square to protest the CAA and NRC and decided to be a part of it,” he said.

A veteran of many such rallies himself, Shounak was part of the team that led the march from JU on December 16.

“Students across campuses are organising protests without depending on political parties to lead the movement. The more the students unite, disregarding the boundaries of institutions, the more fierce would be the protest,” he said.