Hundreds of women have been sitting on a road in south Mumbais Nagpada area since the January 26 night against the CAA-NRC-NPR regime, apparently drawing inspiration from New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protest.
Holding placards and raising slogans against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), the women sat down on the Morland road outside Arabia Hotel on Sunday late night.
Most of them are residents of Muslim-dominated Madanpura, Jhoola Maidan, Apripada, and Mumbai Central areas.
They have so far not withdrawn their agitation despite senior officers of the Mumbai Police urging them to do so, an official said on Monday morning.
The women protesters can be seen holding placards with slogans like “We stand against CAA, NRC, NPR”, “They tried to divide us”, “Respect my existence or expect my Resistance” written on them.
Slogans hailing Hindu-Muslim unity and brotherhood were also raised.
Senior Nagpada police station inspector Shalini Sharma said she had requested the protesters to take a prior permission from the police, but the women refused to budge and continued to occupy the road.
In Delhi, thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting since December 15 at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia against the CAA and the NRC.
West Bengal Assembly passes anti-CAA resolution
The West Bengal Assembly Monday passed a resolution against CAA brought by the state government demanding that the contentious citizenship law be repealed forthwith and NPR and the proposed NRC be withdrawn.
Speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Citizenship Amendment Act is “against the Constitution and humanity”.
“We want this law to be repealed immediately. We want NPR to be also repealed,” Banerjee said.
The resolution was supported by both the opposition parties Congress and the CPI(M) led Left Front.
The BJP legislature party opposed the resolution and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the CAA to help refugees get their citizenship of the country.
Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab too have passed resolutions against the new citizenship law.
The state assembly had earlier passed a resolution against NRC in September 2019.
