Activists, agitation leaders appeal protesters and organisations to come together under the banner 'Hum Bharat Ke Log'; declare schedule of protests
(From left at the back) Yogendra Yadav, Kavita Krishnan, Omar Khalid; (from right in the front) Teesta Setalvad, Feroze Mithiborwala during the press conference. Pic/Ashish Raje
As the year comes to a close, over a 100 organisations have come together and chalked out a plan of action for January 2020, to continue massive anti-CAA protests across the country in the New Year. It was discussed in a national-level meeting of anti-CAA leaders such as Yogendra Yadav, Umar Khalid, Harsh Mander, Kavita Krishnan, Fahad Ahmad, etc. at the Mumbai Press Club on Monday. The organisations, coming together under the banner of 'We, The People of India/Hum Bharat Ke Log,' have decided on dates for the protests.
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Addressing the media at a briefing after the meeting was over, Yogendra Yadav, National President of Swaraj India, said that the central government could only resort to using “repression” as a means of silencing the masses. “We have met today amid these circumstances, to announce that more than 100 sangathans from across India have come together to see how we can take the anti-CAA movement ahead. All those protesting are invited to come together under one common banner, Hum Bharat Ke Log,” said Yadav.
Dates and their significance
The group has given the call for protests on the following dates:
On January 3, which is the birthday of Savitribai Phule, national protests will be primarily led by women and the LGBTQ community. On January 8, the anti-CAA and NRC protests will be led by the farmer community; this is also the date when Central Trade Unions have called for a nationwide general strike. On January 12, which is Swami Vivekanand jayanti, “We will add the youth,” to the protests, and on January 17, which is Rohit Vemula's death anniversary, demonstrations will be held in his name. On the midnight of January 26 i.e. Republic Day, Yadav urged people to arm themselves with the national flag in one hand and the constitution in the other, and take part in protests, while on January 30, which is the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a nationwide yatra will be organised.
Activist Umar Khalid said, “We have proposed certain protests from January 1 to January 30, 2020. It is an appeal to the people of India to observe these days of protests. This is a citizen-led movement...no political party has any role to play here.” He added, “Our movement is based on non-violence. Violence has only been coming from BJP-ruled states or states where BJP controls the police, like in Delhi. They want to provoke people by inciting violence and then using it to suppress and delegitimise the movement.”
'Govt misleading people'
Activist and author Harsh Mander said, “The government has two things on its playlist: first, to communalise the issue; they tried to do this by attacking Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University, followed by the Prime Minister's remarks on how people can be recognised by their clothes. The second is to lie and mislead the masses, which the PM is doing by saying that he and his party have not spoken about the NRC since 2014 whereas in reality, Home Minister Amit Shah has repeatedly mentioned in parliament the chronological implementation of CAA, NRC and NPR.” Fahad Ahmad (TISS) urged everyone to boycott the CAA, NRC and NPR. “The boycott will happen when they are implemented, but before that, we must first pressure the state government to take a decision on this.”
Campaign on social media
The BJP and PM Narendra Modi launched a social media campaign on Monday, supporting CAA. As part of this, multiple tweets were put out by BJP's official handle and Modi, explaining how the CAA does not take away anyone's citizenship. The BJP also asked people to share content and infographics from the NaMo app as a show of support for CAA, NRC and NPR.
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