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A protest organised by 14 activists over 10 days against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) brought together a turnout of around 1.5 lakh people on Thursday at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan, making it one of the largest protests Mumbai has witnessed in the last few years. The crowd was a mixed one, comprising people from all walks of life including social activists, students, senior citizens, people from all religions, as well as citizens from India Inc.
As a venue from where Mahatma Gandhi had given the call for “Quit India” 77 years ago, the August Kranti Maidan is inherently linked to a history of defiance, and was a suitable venue for the protest. While musicians strummed along the lane surrounding the maidan, students and people irrespective of class or religion, displayed posters on Kashmir, Assam, and the police atrocities within the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus. Some interesting slogans included quotes like ”Humari Bhool, Kamal Ka Phool”, “Amit Shah is the New Jinnah”, “Hindu Muslim Me Ekta Hai, Modi Sirf Fekta Hai”.
The camaraderie between the police and the protesters was palpable, and contributed to the making of a peaceful protest. Many citizens were seen clearing the litter left behind and thanking the cops.
One of the most enduring moments at the August Kranti Maidan was the intermittent calls for “Azaadi” or “freedom” which set the precedent for the overall mood of the protest. It is significant that it was on this day (19th December) that Mahatma Gandhi had convinced thousands of Meo Muslims in Haryana to return from the border while they were trying to cross over to Pakistan.
A senior citizen and and ex student of Bandra Petit Municipal School (BMC) in talking to Homegrown said,“They just want to make it a Hindu country, which is wrong. This country was for each and everyone before Independence. So why now only a Hindutva (sic) country ? They have started with Muslims, they will take Christians, then they’ll take Parsis, then Sikhs, and they’ll try to push everyone out. Once, these people only had pushed out Marwaris from Bombay, long time back in the 1930s. So, they’re gonna do the same thing now.”
The protest ended with a public reading of and declaration of allegiance to the Preamble of the Constitution and singing of the national anthem.
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