New Delhi: Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act continued in Delhi Friday with people gathering in and around Jama Masjid, demanding a repeal of the new law.
The crowd at Jama Masjid was large, with protesters carrying posters of Bhagat Singh, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, and some also flying the Tricolour.
Also present at the protest was Bhim Army leader Chandrashekhar Azad, who held a copy of the Constitution in one hand and a photo of Ambedkar in the other. He read out the Preamble with the crowd chanting alongside.
Protesters inside the mosque complex then spilled out onto the road, shouting slogans and wearing black bands. Azad was detained by the police afterward, but escaped from custody.
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‘Hindustan zindabad, samvidhan zindabad’
A majority of protesters at the Jama Masjid were Muslims, but when one shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great), the people around him rebuked him for using a religious slogan.
Instead, the people chanted ‘Hindustan zindabad’, ‘Samvidhaan zindabad’, ‘Jai Bhim’ and calls for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to be repealed. The crowd also threw flower petals into the air and waved the national flag.
While most protesters spoke about the new citizenship law being discriminatory towards Muslims, others said it went against the Constitution and its secular fabric.
A few protesters ThePrint spoke to pointed to the economic slowdown as a reason why the law didn’t make sense.
“The state of the economy is so bad, the GDP growth rate is so low, unemployment is rampant and this government is passing a bill like this. What are its priorities?” asked one man.
Another protester added: “They want to bring more people into the country, no problem. But they should first at least fix the economy. What will they feed the new citizens?”
‘Keep going to protests’
Unlike the protests at Jantar Mantar Thursday, there were few women in the Jama Masjid gathering. However, one woman student from Jamia Millia Islamia told ThePrint that she had gone to Sunday’s protest at Jamia, which saw violence and a massive police crackdown, as well as the peaceful one at Jantar Mantar Thursday.
“It should not be that because I go for one protest, I don’t go for more. Everybody needs to keep protesting to fight against this Act,” she said.
Later, as protesters started marching away from Jama Masjid towards Jantar Mantar, a police officer said they did not have permission to do so. The police then barricaded the crowd near the police station at Delhi Gate.
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