It was late on Monday night but a group of housewives and young students squatting on a road in a south Mumbai locality showed no signs of fatigue, as they spiritedly raised slogans opposing the new citizenship law while hailing the Hindu-Muslim unity in the country.
Photograph: Sahil Salvi/KhabriBaba.com
At least 100 women, who have been sitting on a side road in Nagpada area since January 26 night against the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens-National Population Register regime, on Tuesday vowed to hold their ground like their Shaheen Bagh counterparts in Delhi.
Traffic in the Muslim-dominated area is not much affected, as the protesters are occupying a side road outside a hotel.
Most of the women are residents of Madanpura, Jhoola Maidan, Agripada and Mumbai Central areas.
Feroze Mithiborwala of ‘Hum Bharat Ke Log’ said that the women are firm to continue with their protests.
“Women from the Muslim community have been feeling frustrated since the last six years. It is this frustration that women are coming out to protest,” Mithiborwala said.
One of the speakers, Nagma Siddique, told the gathering that the protest was like a “festival” for them. She criticised the Uttar Pradesh Police and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh had witnessed violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“If anyone visits your home asking for your documents, then respond by demanding Rs 15 lakh from them,” Siddiquie said in an apparent reference to the BJP’s pre-2014 poll promise.
One of the protesters said the women are balancing their responsibilities at home while also participating in the protest.
They go to their respective homes in batches and return to the spot after dropping their children at school and completing other work, she said.
Local police’s efforts to break the protest are not successful yet.
