Protests to continue until CAA-NPR-NRC withdrawn, say Shaheen Bagh protestors, activists

Refusing to believe Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s half-truths on the issue of National Population Register, women protestors and social activists have demanded that the government amend the existing law to ensure that as a result of NPR, no citizen will be marked as ‘doubtful’.

It has been 91 days since the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh began and the women have decided that they will continue the movement until the law is revoked. “People are intelligent, and we remember what Amit Shah has said about the chronology of implementation. He is simply throwing crumbs at us. They think we are unlettered women, so we do not understand anything. But we have long experience and that is why we are out on the streets,” explained 70-year-old Noornisa, who has been at Shaheen Bagh since the beginning.

Shah has gone on record in Parliament saying that the “doubtful” category will be removed from the NPR. “We want to know why these questions are being asked. After conducting the NPR exercise, a year later with the same data, they will enact National Register of Citizens. We have no grounds to retreat now,” said Prakash Devi, another protestor at Shaheen Bagh.

Maintaining that the protestors’ demands were correct, social activist Harsh Mander said, “We call for the boycott of NPR as it is the first step towards NRC. We oppose the clubbing of NPR with Census. The government must pass a law and formalise through an amendment of the 2003 Citizenship Rules in the context of NPR and ‘doubtful voters’. Unless the government amends the law, we will continue to protest and call for the boycott of NPR.” He was speaking at a press conference called by various civil society groups in the Capital to announce the future of anti-CAA-NRC-NPR movement on Saturday.

One of the women demonstrators, 50-year-old Meharunissa said, “If the Home Minister can pass the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament, then he can amend the existing law in Parliament too. This is a fight for the poor of the country and for our next generation. If we don’t fight now, the next generation will also be enslaved.”

“The government must suitably amend Rule 7(2) and 17 of the 2003 Citizenship Rules to ensure that no one would be penalised for failure to provide information and NPR is voluntary. As soon as the government carries out these amendments, we would be prepared to withdraw the call for boycotting NPR, but the movement against CAA and NRC would continue,” explained Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan and ‘We the People of India’.

Asserting that CAA was unconstitutional, a young protestor Hina Khan said, “Why are we being asked to withdraw our protests? The question is why is he linking NPR with the census? Why are we being linked to the violence in northeast Delhi? What were the Delhi police officials doing when they got more than 1500 calls even on February 27, 28? We have been sitting here since December 16 after the police atrocities on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia. Amit Shah is a ‘jumlebaaz’ and he does not respect the institution that he heads.”

Adding to this, another protestor Aparna said, “Only a government which does not understand its people and its women can say or do this. The government is supposed to work for us and if we are unhappy with the legislation, it should be removed. The government exists to solve our problems, not to increase it. If the government is worried about the spread of COVID-19, then let them withdraw CAA, we will all go home.”