“This is Freedom Struggle 2.0,” says Asmat Jamil, “We will not budge until the black law is repealed.”
Ms. Jamil (44), a resident of Kolkata, has undergone a kidney transplant. She is a homemaker and the mother of three children; she also runs an NGO called Azzuma; and in her latest avatar, she is the leader of the round-the-clock protest that has turned the Park Circus Maidan into Kolkata’s Shaheen Bagh.
‘Black law’
The black law she’s referring to is the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, the opposition to which has turned the place — right in the heart of Kolkata — into a nerve centre of protests. Each day, busloads of Muslims from in and around the city pour into the ground to show support to the Muslim women who have been camping there since January 7.
“All the women you see here — none of them are members of any political party, none of them have joined a protest before. They are all homemakers like me,” says Ms. Jamil.
Growing in strength
When asked how she gathered the courage to begin single-handedly a protest that has now become a talk of the town, she says: “The [mob] attack in JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) made me realise that the country is in danger. The thought of saving the country gave me the courage. I got some 60 women together and we sat here. We were joined by 15 to 20 students from different universities. That’s how it all began.”
Today, more than three weeks later, the atmosphere at the venue is electrifying. The place is awash with the tricolour and drenched in slogans shouted by the women. When this reporter had visited the venue about ten days ago, the protesters did not have a mike or a roof. But now, the authorities have allowed them to have a mike and a tarpaulin tent. Also back then, it was the activists who shouted the slogans and the women followed in unison, but now even burqa-clad women can be seen making angry speeches.
‘Pluralistic India’
“What we want is education, jobs, better healthcare and a higher GDP (Gross Domestic Product) — and not CAA,” said Ms. Jamil. “The whole purpose of this protest is to reach our voice to the government. The government should know that even Swami Vivekananda was proud of the pluralistic nature of India.”
At the venue hangs a large poster that says: “Swami Vivekananda rejected the idea of CAA 127 years ago in his Chicago speech!” It depicts Swami Vivekananda (with Ramakrishna Paramahamsa standing behind him) telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Not in our name.”
In one corner of the ground, a young Muslim man is busy creating more such posters; in another corner stands a tea-seller; other corners are occupied by policemen keeping an eye on the busloads of people marching in with the tricolour. At the centre is the dais, surrounded by seated women, who in turned are hemmed in by the men. They are all now responding loudly to the slogan: “ Jai Hind ka nara lagao , Modi ko duur bhagao (Chant Jai Hind and chase Modi away).”
