Various political parties along with communities and trusts came together in Vashi on Monday for a protest rally against National Population Register (NPR), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The protest began at Vashi railway station and ended at Shivaji Chowk. It saw participation from workers of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Nationalist Congress Party, Congress, Republican Party of India and Shiv Sena, along with citizens from various communities.
“It was a silent rally and we covered our mouth with a black ribbon as a symbol of protest. We had invited people who believe in peace to participate. For 15 days, we held meetings with people from all communities and invited them for the rally. We had decided not to call out slogans as it could have hurt the sentiments of a few people,” Sayyed Afsar Imaam, a businessman from Vashi, said.
According to him, it was important for people to understand that the CAA, NRC and NPR were was not a problem just for Muslims but for each and every citizen of the country. “We let people with knowledge of the law explain the issues with it at Shivaji Chowk. The protest started at 3 p.m. and went on till 6 p.m.,” Mr. Imaam said.
Rajeev Mishra, a Navi Mumbai-based RTI activist, who was also a part of the rally, said, “The Centre has the right to make laws but the Supreme Court has since ages been saying that these laws should be in accordance with the Constitution. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution provides every citizen equality before the law, but here the government is providing citizenship based on religion and that is a violation of equality. If we allow this to happen today, tomorrow something else will be decided on the basis of religion.”
Mr. Mishra also said the government had already polarised the people of India and succeeded in dividing them. “Social media is polarised…People have crossed all limits. Everyone is fighting with each other to prove themselves right.”
