Despite every effort by the administration to put it to halt, the all-women protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Lucknow’s Clock Tower continued on Saturday.
In the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, a large number of women and children have gathered at the iconic venue of Heritage Circle for the last many days. They refused to budge despite threats of eviction by the local administration.
“Citizens across the country are on the streets protesting against the new law, which is against the very basic tenets of Indian Constitution,” a woman who has been at the protest site with her four-year-old child said.
“The country is in the hands of those who are trying to destroy India. We Muslim women have to take out our veil and come on to the streets to protect India’s democracy,” she added.
Another woman who was protesting at the spot said, “God has given us the power to protect our country from the fascist forces and we will keep fighting till the very end.”
“This law is 100 per cent wrong. Those sitting in power presently should understand that this law has been negated by the people, so they should withdraw it,” she said.
Further attacking the government on CAA, she said, “But the government is trying every possible trick to discredit the protesters by leveling baseless charges that we have taken money to protest. This is ridiculous.”
Shabana, another protester who was protesting at the venue said, “We have been a thorn in the eyes of the government since the day we began the protest. Some NGOs handed out blankets, biscuits, and water but the policemen took them away.”
“The Police also doused the bonfires, lit to help keep the women warm and cope with the cold wave. Not only this, the police even put pressure on those running the nearby toilet to extort money from us. But we will not back out even against all odds, and will continue protesting,” she added.
The protesters were seen chanting slogans against the contentious CAA and the proposed NRC and also holding placards with ‘No to NRC’, ‘Will not show papers’ written on them.
(With inputs from IANS)