Bengaluru’s women create their own Shaheen Bagh: Photo Article by Sanya Khanna

Bangalore: On a Monday evening rather than taking her two-year-old son to the neighbourhood park, Asmeena Begum made a journey with her son from Mysuru road to Tannery road in Bengaluru. She was joined by other women from her locality to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) organized near Bilal Masjid.

Women arrives at protest with her son in a tempo truck. Pic: Sanya Khanna

It has been two months since CAA was passed in the Indian Parliament. The Act seeks to amend the citizenship rules for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan granting them citizenship in five years instead of the earlier 11 years.

The new citizenship law, which is an amendment to the 1955 legislation, provides Indian citizenship to ‘persecuted’ minorities in these countries – but makes no direct reference to Muslims from these nations. The Opposition says this amendment is discriminatory and violates their right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. This has lead to several protests across the country.

Women leader giving speech at Tannery Road protest. Pic: Sanya Khanna

The Tannery road protest which began on 8 February, 2020 by the residents of Pillana Garden in East Bengaluru has received enormous support from the locals and from students. “We didn’t expect it to become so big. Earlier we organized protest at Frazer Town (a locality in Bengaluru) but they were small scale protest. Even this was started as a three-day protest but now we’re planning to protest indefinitely,” said Saquib Idrees, the organizer of the protest.

“Since men are busy earning bread and butter for their families, women have taken to streets to fight for their rights,” Idrees mentioned.

Kids raising slogans and singing patriotic songs at the protest site. Pic: Sanya Khanna

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 also known as the epicenter of Anti CAA in the country which was was started by a group of local women on 15^th December 2019 in the capital has become the biggest and longest continuous ongoing protest against CAA and NRC.

“We wanted to send out a message of solidarity to the women of Shaheen Bagh. I have always encouraged women to get their identity cards like pan card and passport to avail the rights promised by the Constitution hoping it would come to their aid in bad times. But even in my wildest dreams I did not think that all of it would be declared invalid one day,” said Nagma Sheikh, a leader of Karnataka Mahila Muslim Organization who helped organize the rally.

Divided by generation gap united by the urge to bring a change as Grandmothers bring their granddaughters to the protest. Pic Sanya Khanna

“We’ve become immigrants in our own country- in the country where we’ve been living for generations. Hatao is kale kanoon ko (take back this black law),” she proclaimed referring to the bill.

A man peeling potatoes for the‘Aloo Sabzi’ which is going to be served to protesters for dinner. Pic: Sanya Khanna

While the protest is seeking a revolution in the political sphere, its undertones were also felt in the social sphere. While women were protesting, men were seen cooking in the kitchen and serve tea to the protesters. Iqbal Qureshi, a 40 year old man volunteering at the protest said, “If women can come ahead to fight for their rights, as men it is our duty to stand by them.”

Men pouring tea for the protesters. Pic: Sanya Khanna

A young Indian representing his dissent. Pic: Sanya Khanna

The protest has been joined by several students who were seen educating the women and the children about the Act.

Among them was Mariam Saigal, a 20-year-old poet whose video featuring her views on the Act went viral recently. “I was trolled on social media after my video was released. Many men sent me vulgar pictures and rape threats for speaking against the Act,” she said.

Speaking for those who had gathered as one voice, Saigal said, “This is the reality of India today where people can’t speak their minds and have opinions which do not adhere to the status quo.”