Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have gripped the entire country and Kolkata is showing the way to other cities. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is leading the agitations from the forefront for the last 10 days. In fact, today she led a rally – the sixth in the city – from Rajabazar to Mullick Bazar.
Interestingly, around 45 Christian organisations also held a protest march today against CAA-NRC. A few days ago, Mamata Banerjee attended a get-together at St. Xavier’s College on the occasion of Christmas. Even there, she was vocal about CAA and NRC. That was the spark for today’s march, which started from St. Paul’s Cathedral and ended near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on Mayo Road. “This is the first time ever that we are taking part in such a rally,” a participant said.
Though a silent rally, the placards and posters were loud enough. “No NRC, No CAA” and “We are ALL citizens”, among others, were raised at Gandhi statue. Some participants laid stress on peace and pointed out that their rights would be wrested in a peaceful way. According to the Principal of Bishop’s College, the laws that the present Union Government were trying to implement were unconstitutional. “We don’t want people who are living for ages in this country to be forced to leave.”
Even though the walk was organized by Christian associations, many who participated were from different faiths, making it a truly “multi-religious expression of protest” said Pradeep Kakkar who participated.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has emerged as the leading face of the opposition against the implementation of these laws. She was the first to announce that NRC would not be implemented in her state. After that several other Chief Ministers have followed suit. Therefore, the organisers of today’s rally were also grateful to her.