Ramachandra Guha joins celebrities at 'Bilal Bagh' anti-CAA protest, praises it as 'historic'

Appearing at the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally on Tannery Road on Saturday, historian Ramachandra Guha praised the all-women protest as a ‘historic event’.

Dubbed ‘Bilal Bagh’ for its location along the Masjid-E-Hazrath Bilal on 9th Main Road in Pillanna Garden, the continuous protest, which entered its ninth day on Saturday, has attracted a swathe of prominent speakers, including actor Naseeruddin Shah, Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and singer M D Pallavi.

On Friday, Pallavi sang Kannada songs and Mevani spoke about women power. Shah recited poetry for about 10 minutes, before telling the assembly of women that it was their courage that had given him the voice to speak.

Guha, who joined the list of celebrities on Saturday, went a step further.

“I am a historian, so I write about the momentous events of the past. But now, the women of Bilal Bagh are creating history,” he said. Participants at the rally said it is a sense of history that has brought new sets of attendees from across the city.

Corrine Kumar, a senior citizen from Banaswadi, described the protest as part of a larger struggle.

“The first freedom fight was to secure our freedom. We are now engaged in a second freedom struggle, this time for the soul of the country,” she said.

Former freedom fighter and economist Devaki Jain (87), who made a surprise visit at the protest site, expressed the belief that the various women’s protests alone could prompt the BJP to roll back the CAA. The protests should coalesce into a political movement to be really effective, she added.

“Let’s be clear, these protests are not entirely about the CAA. The BJP has been infringing upon our freedom for some time; these protests are a manifestation of the societal disapproval of their agenda,” she said.

The police have been unable to close the protest. An organiser pointed out that the protest is primarily made of women and children, and many stay on-site.

'Fight must go on'

At a programme intended to examine the impact of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Registration (NRP) on marginalised communities, freedom fighter H S Doreswamy said Delhi had given its mandate against hate and communalism.

Speaking at Kalidasa Road on Saturday afternoon, the veteran said that "the fight against CAA, NRC and NPR should go on."

At the event, a collective call was made to the government to stop the NPR exercise in Karnataka.

It also demanded that the central government withdraw the CAA legislation and rollback the citizenship rules of 2003, which enables NPR and NRC.