New Delhi: Shaheen Bagh women protestors who are agitating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were not deterred by the unseasonal rains on Thursday afternoon.
The rain in this bone-chilling cold could not dampen the spirit of the Hundreds of women protesters who have been protesting for more than a month.
They continued their agitation under makeshift tarpaulin tent in the middle of the road.
Their message was loud and clear to the government who might have expected that protesters would leave the venue due to the rains. “We are not going to give up the protest till our demand of scrapping of the dreaded CAA and withdrawal of the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) is accepted by the Central government”, septuagenarian Bilquis and Sarvari, were quoted by India Tomorrow as saying.
They were sitting on a wooden bed covered with a cotton mattress and covering themselves in dupattas and woolen shawls.
One of the women protesters said, “We are thankful to Allah that we are having a tarpaulin sheet over our heads to protect us from rains. But we are sitting here on the road not for any fun but for a very serious issue. We are here for the future of our children, future of our next generations which is in danger due to CAA and NRC. Our children in Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University were shot at, attacked with bullets, teargas shells, lathis and iron roads because they were protesting against CAA. One of them in Jamia lost vision in his eyes. When police are committing such atrocities on our children, can we sit silently in our homes? Shall we not come out? Shall we fear the rains? We will not remain silent. If the government does not come to its senses and refuses to withdraw CAA, the protest will spread to more areas, not only inside the country but also among the Indian diaspora overseas”.
Criticising the media for questioning the protesters about sources of funding, she said, “We are not beggars that we are here for food and money. Alhamdulillah, every one of us here is in a position to arrange his/her own food and other expenditures on their own. But if some philanthropists and sympathisers of our cause supplies us food, we will accept it. What is wrong with this? Is it a crime for the people sharing common cause with us to support the protest with the help of money and food and other things required to keep the protest going on?”