By T I Inamdar, Twocircles.net
Panjim (Goa): Continuing with the momentum of countrywide demonstrations against the draconian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), a mega rally under the banner of ‘Goa Alliance against CAA, NRC and NPR’ came out in the heart of Panjim City on Friday.
“Amka Naka Amka Naka, CAA Amka Naka, NRC Amka Naka” (We don’t want CAA, We don’t want NRC), in Konkani, was roared in unison by the massive crowd of more than 20, 000 protestors in the rally. Joined by people from various religious backgrounds and social organizations, the rally saw huge participation from churches, Muslim civil societies and NGOs.
Although Goa is India’s smallest state by area and fourth smallest by population, Muslims share about 8.33 per cent among its total populace of 15 lakh, according to 2011 Census.
The sea of protestors from all communities started their march from the Kala Academy at 3:30 PM and walked till the historic Azad Maidan, covering a distance of 1.5 km. A.S. Tapadar, a practising advocate of High Court of Guwahati and permanent member of Supreme Court Bar Association was one of the main speakers of the evening. Other speakers included Jamia student protestor, Ayesha Renna, writer Dadu Mandrekar and well known activists Albertina Almeida, Arthur D’Souza, Prasanjeet Dhage, Nabila Hassan, Ramakrishna Jhalmi and Asif Hussain.
“CAA is a black law, we will keep opposing in democratic way,” said Asif Hussain, speaking to Twocircles.net. Asif discussed that the protestors had taken an oath not to furnish information for NPR or Census until the CAA and NRC are withdrawn. He added that he was thankful for religious organizations taking the lead in mobilizing protestors for the march and extended his heartiest gratitude to especially women and girl students, whose number was notable in the rally. He also said that as civil society activists, they have full faith in the democracy and their spirit is to simply spread unity and love to make their country prosperous.
“CAA and NRC are dhakosla (excuses) by the central government to divert the mind of people from failure situation,” felt Fahmida Khan, one of the protestors and a social activist. She stated that as we are born in India, being an Indian is our identity and such laws are just excuses to divert the public from real issues plaguing the nation. She further added, “Implementation of these laws is like murder of democracy.”