Anatomy Of A Protest

The citizen protests in delhi against the CAA/ NRC will be remembered for a long time for the uniquely creative solidarities they built cutting across all sorts of divides

- Sonali Acharjee

The stroke of the midnight hour, as the world welcomed the ar­ rival of a new decade, Inshah Hussain, 16, stood shivering alongside a group of strangers in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, holding a placard that read: ‘Fight for the Idea of India: Democracy, Equality and Freedom’. The school student had never attended a public demonstra­tion before. Only a few weeks ago, her friends had been a part of the Amanat rape protests in Delhi, but she had stayed behind. Yet, something about the ongoing movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) touched a nerve and brought her out onto the streets.

“People have called me a terrorist, a cheat in the past few years. I tolera­ ted that. But when the law starts to discriminate against my religion, then I cannot stay indoors. I do not want that section of India to feel empowered which has no respect for minorities. Today they call me names, tomorrow they’ll throw stones at me if they feel the sarkar is favouring them,” she says.