Following Supreme Court’s refusal to stay implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), protesters from across the country—including Maharashtra—have resolved to carry on with the anti-CAA demonstrations.
Samata Kala Manch, along with a number of organisations, has organised an agitation like Shaheen Bagh in Kalyan, Thane. “We want to inform people and especially women about the struggle of the women at Shaheen Bagh. They have inspired people from across the country and Maharashtra is no exception. The women’s response to the ongoing movement is unprecedented,” said Suvarna of Samata Kala Manch. The protest is being organised under the banner of ‘Hum Bharat Ke Log (We, the People of India)’.
Student bodies like Students’ Federation of India, All India Students’ Federation, and Progressive Students’ Union, too, have organised a series of protests across colleges in Mumbai and Thane. Apart from talks on CAA, street plays and other cultural programmes are crucial to the protests that are also working as awareness campaigns.
About 23 OBC [Other Backward Classes] organisations across Maharashtra have decided to continue the agitation. “Every day, there will be agitations in one or two districts. Also, there will be campaigns to make people aware of the provisions of the Act. This will be done by our supporters. We are taking legal experts from Pune and Mumbai to rural parts of the state,” said Shabbir Ansari of All India Muslim OBC Organisation.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also resolved to launch a mass awareness campaign. The workers of CPI(M) will go from door to door to inform people about the CAA.
“It has been decided at our recent meeting in Kerala that January 23, 26 and 30 will see huge gatherings and different programmes. On these days and also later, we will try to go to every doorstep with literature about the acts,” said Ashok Dhawale, leader of AIKS.
A number of Muslim organisations are also joining the anti-CAA protests. The march and rallies are being held in Dhule, Solapur, Aurangabad, Amravati, Kolhapur and other parts of the state. So far, police are allowing the protesters barring one or two incidents in state. This has also increased the confidence of people to be able to participate in the agitation.
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