The city was witness to a long human chain protest on Thursday with thousands of people linking hands on arterial roads against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Cadre of various political parties, civil rights activists and students took part in the protest against CAA-NRC-NPR, called by the Tamil Nadu Platform For Peoples’ Unity.
The organisers claimed that the city had never seen a human chain stretching to 37 km — from Tiruvottiyur to Tambaram — in which over one-and-half lakh people participated. As many as 27 Muslim organisations took part as well.
G. Udayakumaran of Tamil Nadu Platform For Peoples’ Unity said, “People stepped out with their families and friends to participate in the human chain to show their displeasure against the Central government. We organised our protest to oppose the BJP government's unconstitutional CAA, NPR and NRC and to show the power of the people in the city.”
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan, THG Publishing Private Limited Chairman N. Ram, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi leader M.H. Jawaharilluah, Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi leader M. Thamimun Ansari, former CSI Bishop Devasahayam and Chief Imam Moulana Muhammad Mansoor Kashifi Qasimi took part in the human chain.
During the protest, many men and women held hands and shouted slogans to express solidarity and support to the movement against CAA. “We want to save the Constitution and the democratic nature of our country. The government in power should not change the secular fabric of our nation by bringing in the new law,” said A.S. Fathima Muzaffer, convener, Federation of Tamil Nadu Muslim Women.
