All roads led to Dharna Chowk where tens of thousands converged waving the Tricolour to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register where a call to boycott these stipulations was issued.
The Joint Action Committee Against CAA, NRC and NPR – an umbrella body of around 40 religious, socio-religious and political organisations – had given the protest call. While the time of protest was 2 pm, the venue began to burst at its seams by 12.30 pm, as waves of protesters. from all walks of life and cutting across faiths, continued to pour in.
JAC Convener Mushtaq Mallik called for a boycott of the NRC and NPR as he urged protesters not to show ‘papers’.
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He claimed that several forces had tried to stall the protest call, but the people had prevailed. He also said that the fact that young and old had ‘come together for a cause’ speaks volumes that the people refused to be cowed down. He thanked the thousands of women who had ‘played an important role’ to make the protest successful.
Justice B Chandra Kumar, a member of the JAC, took the issue by the horns and opined that the legislation is illegal and unconstitutional.
Drawing from events from his life, he said that he had read the Bhagwad Gita, Vedas, Bible and the Quran and that the maker of the Universe is one.
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“All things have been created by Bhagwan. All things have been created by Allah. We are all Indians,” he said.
Speakers, including MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and proceeded to question Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s ‘silence’ on the issue of implementation of NRC and NPR in the State. They said that the public had come voluntarily.
They also ‘thanked’ both Mr Modi and Mr Shah for uniting Indians for a single cause, to protect the Constitution.
On the other hand, Jamaat-e-Islami Telangana-Odisha chief Hamed Mohammed Khan said that the ‘fight’ against CAA, NRC and NPR would continue till the BJP leadership is forced to ‘bow’ before the demands of the people. “This storm will not end, and storms wash away even mountains,” he said.
As the crowd swelled, they moved into the NTR Stadium where slogans against the BJP government, the Home Minister and Prime Minister were raised. Within a few minutes, the stadium too was packed. Sloganeering continued well into the evening as protesters dispersed in large numbers into the streets.