JOIN USTannery Road residents start a Shaheen Bagh against CAA-NRC
Residents of Pillana Garden started a three-day protest, astride Tannery Road in eastern Bengaluru, against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) on Saturday evening.
The protest, which had about 150 women, plus a smaller group of men on the periphery, is said to have its antecedents in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh agitation. “We wanted to send out a message of solidarity to the women of Shaheen Bagh,” explained Syed Samiuddin, a local resident who helped put the rally together.
Although no official police permission was given for the rally, organisers said that they had allegedly worked out a tenuous agreement with the jurisdictional Pulakeshi Nagar police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) S D Sharanappa, however, said that no intimation had been made to his office, much less permission given.
That did not appear to sway many gathered at the protest site. Anushi, 30, an Indiranagar resident, said that she had come to find out about the protest. “I wanted to see what was motivating these women — because as women, with familial responsibilities, it is not easy for them to come out and protest,” she said.
Many of the assembled women told DH that they were anxious to use the opportunity to voice their feelings against the CAA-NRC. “If we stay silent now, we will also have to stay silent in the future,” they said.
Firdaus Rasheed, 33, a homemaker with two daughters, said that part of the reason for her joining the protest was that it would be “historic.” “We are going to replicate Shaheen Bagh here. It’s a matter of our survival,” she said.
Among those who had made up her mind to stay for the three days was Abby, 20, an LGBT student who said that she started to protest against the government after the transgender law was passed.