Maharashtra govt. will do what people want with regard to CAA, says Supriya Sule

NCP leader speaks at protest atttended by thousands of women in Agripada

Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule on Friday said the State government will act according to the demands of the people of Maharashtra with regard to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens and National Population Register.

Ms. Sule made the statement at a protest attended by thousands of women at the YMCA ground in Agripada on Friday evening. The women gathered holding hundreds of Tricolours and anti-CAA placards, shouting ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and reciting Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem ‘ Hum Dekhenge’ .

Ms. Sule said the Bharatiya Janata Party is coming out with such laws as it is unable to run the Central government.

“The Prime Minister and Home Minister give contrasting statements which makes me doubt that they might not be talking to each other. I was in Parliament when the Home Minister said he will implement the NRC across India,” Ms. Sule said.

The NCP leader said the Maharashtra government will stand by the citizens of the State in opposition to the laws. “We know what is in the people’s mind and the same thing is on our mind as well. In Mumbai, nobody is Hindu or Muslim, everyone is a Mumbaikar and these laws will not be able to discriminate between us. A woman can run a house but can also break a governnment. This is the power of a saree or a burqa,” she said.

The protest was also attended by students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. Nabiya Khan from JMI said the police have an Islamophobic attitude towards the university.

“Violence against students has been seen in every university but there is a difference in how police is treating JNU and JMI. We have called things like ‘ Jinnah ke pilley’ [Jinnah’s children] and told ‘ kalma padh lo yeh tumhari aakhiri raat hai’ [say your prayers, this is your final night]. But women have been and will continue to be at the forefront of protests,” she said.

Devika Menon, a student from JNU, said the laws are in favour of the rich and will send the poor to detention camps to make slaves out of them. Advocate Qurratulaen Ganchi said, “The Constitution gives women equal rights as men and Islam also promotes education of women. It says women should be ahead in social issues. The issue is not about Hindu and Muslim, but about the danger to the country from dictators. Public opinion was not sought before passing the law overnight.”