Hundreds of members of civil society turned up at Tank Bund on Wednesday evening for the nationwide silent protest called: “Not in My Name”.
As the protestors didn’t have permission, police officials tried to disperse them and snatched away the placards and posters but the protestors continued holding A4 size printouts of the Preamble of Indian Constitution.
‘Good administration’
Under the statue of Raghupati Venkatratnam Naidu, who worked for eradication of untouchability, the gathered citizens spoke out against lynchings of Muslims and Dalits in various parts of the country.
“The government should run the country so that people have a better life. It should not bother about what people are eating or drinking. We want good administration and not a government that is targeting the poor and marginalised,” said Ali bin Saeed. Incidentally, one of the protestor held up a placard: “Jobs not mobs.”
Professors, retired officials, lawyers, students from OU, and children from an orphanage turned up at the venue with their own placards. “It is heartening to see this diverse crowd. It shows that Hyderabad cares. I posted about this event on June 24 and in such a short period of time so many people turned up. It is not the numbers but what kind of message we are sending across to the government,” said social activist Kalpana Kannabiran.
Protest stopped
“It is a movement of humanity where random people have come together to silently raise their voice against the current atmosphere of fear in many parts of the country,” said Hema Bindu, a student who came with her own placard.
Police officials who initially acted tough with the protestors disallowing them from holding placards, backed off later as a larger group of people joined in and the protest continued till 6 p.m.
“We learnt about this protest from Facebook and turned up here for taking care of law and order,” said a police official of Gandhi Nagar PS.
