CAA: Women power sweeps Bengaluru streets as protests continue

It was another day and another protest in India’s Silicon Valley against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) on Thursday.

As the afternoon sun shone bright above the protesters’ head at Bengaluru’s Town Hall, it was women (a lot of teenage girls and a few toddlers, too) who took the centre stage amidst chants to repeal the “unconstitutional and undemocratic” CAA and NRC.

For almost 10 days now, women of all age groups in the city have been enthusiastically taking part in protest rallies and candlelight marches against the NRC and CAA. On Thursday, their male counterparts decided to stand in the background to make women voices the focal point to carry forward the ongoing nationwide “satyagraha” (civil disobedience movement, the same weapon of peaceful protests under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi that ended British colonialism in the country).

The idea of Women India Movement, a collective, to host an all-women protest (where many men volunteered to manage the crowd) was to bring forth diverse and distinct voices of women against the CAA, NRC and NPR.

“Here are many women and young girls who hardly speak their minds in their day today life. We want all to come together and raise their voices against the constitutional crisis the country is facing,” said Sajida Begum, a women rights activist and president and founder of Aasra, an NGO.

“When women speak so loud and clear, the government must listen to us,” added Begum.

Also read: NPR will serve as database for NRC, oppose it, says Arundhati Roy

Fameeda P, 65, had never taken part in any protests in her life. However, in the last four days she took part in three protests. “Because a great injustice has been done by the Narendra Modi government against the Muslims by passing the communal CAA in Parliament. If NRC is done tomorrow, Muslims of India are in danger of becoming stateless.”

Fameeda, a homemaker, is “immensely worried about the current state of affairs in the country”, so she decided to bring her daughter Mohsina Khan and her 18 months old grandson to the protest.

“Do we have a choice? Problems of my country have become my family matters, so here I am with my mother and son,” said Khan as her mother stood beside her holding a poster of Mahatma Gandhi with the message, “Don’t divide India”.

At the protest venue, unlike Khan, who finds herself “helpless”, her contemporary and a techie, Tanvi Bhakta, claimed that she “enjoys several privileges” and “so she needs to come out in support of minorities and underprivileged”. Bhakta came to the protest during her lunch break at office with her friends. She said her office has “no problem” that she had been a part of several anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests, while refusing to reveal the name of her company.

Also read: Anti-CAA protesters pack a punch with quirky placards

Sumana T, another techie, questioned the claims of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both at the Centre and state that “it’s mostly the illiterate and ill-informed” who are protesting across the nation. “The BJP lacks common sense, so it’s insulting the citizens of the country,” she said.

Women protestors also criticised the recent controversial comment made by BJP MP from Bangalore South, Tejasvi Surya, who called anti-CAA and anti-NRC protesters as “puncturewallahs”, to “target the minorities and poor”.

“When you people puncture the Constitution, we are there to repair it,” said a speaker at the Town Hall.

In the surcharged atmosphere where slogans of “azaadi” kept reminding the crowd to fight against various ills afflicting the country, protesters took a moment to express their gratitude for the police force.

While the police’s alleged atrocities against protesters, especially in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, have been condemned widely, fortunately, the city remained “peaceful and calm”. Section 144 was imposed for three days last week in the city to thwart the assembly of people but it didn’t deter them from expressing their views.

However, Mangaluru, was not so “lucky” as two people died in alleged police firing and the city remained under a curfew for a few days.

Also read: Civil disobedience call at one lakh strong anti-CAA rally in Bengaluru

As a part of “thanksgiving”, children distributed roses to the police personnel manning the yellow barricades surrounding the Town Hall. “We want to thank the female police personnel and also the male police personnel for protecting us,” said a speaker as the crowd applauded the men and women in khaki.

Nodding her head in agreement, police constable Parvatamma shared kind words for protesters. “They are all peaceful protesters. They are my brothers and sisters and I am happy to be with them,” said Parvatamma, holding the red rose tightly with her hands.

Standing a few metres away from the police personnel, Mobina Begum made an observation. “Our pain and troubles are same. It’s another matter that she’s wearing a uniform and I am wearing a burka. We both are women and understand each other’s problems.”

Perhaps it’s rare to witness such camaraderie between the police and public. Nonetheless, Bengaluru women showed some glimpses of “peaceful coexistence”. After nearly two hours of sloganeering, speeches and singing, Bengaluru wrapped the Town Hall protest to prepare for an evening rendezvous against the CAA and NRC, again, at the residential neighbourhood of Wilson Garden.