A 43-hour protest by more than 300 women near the Frazer town Mosque in the city similar to the Shaheen Bagh demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was called off on Saturday at 12.30 pm.
Women from various organisations and localities joined in at Pulkeshinagar on Thursday at 3 pm for the protest which was supposed be for 24 hours. However, the women continued it for 43 hours straight.
Dr Asifa Nisar, a Unani specialist by profession and organiser of the protest, said, "We decided to continue our protest for more than 24 hours. But we will have it called off in less than 48 hours as Republic day is coming up and we want to celebrate the Republic day and stand for our constitution. We called it of at 12.30 pm and it was a great success. We will continue to support other organisation in other protests."
The protest was under the banner #WomenForConstitution and the protest focussed on five demands which were, No CAA-No NRC-NO NPR, No privacy invasion, No police brutality, No racial profiling, No innternet shutdowns.
Talking about their stand against CAA she said, "The bill is not just against the Muslims, it is against all the Dalits, transgenders and all women. Now it is not a matter of one party or constitution but everyone in India. We stand for all. We have a right to citizenship and nobody can take it from us."
Another protester, Madhu Bhushan, a women rights activist said, "The CAA, NRC and NCR-all of it goes against the Constitution. In the case of CAA they might say it is for persecuted minorities. There are so many other minorities in other places like Sri lanka but they are not even considered. This law just make Muslims more vulnerable. While in the case of NCR it is an insane exercise. In order to get rid of illegal immigrants we have to undergo a huge exercise which will affect the poor and all the tribals. NCR is as well a horrendous exercise. Every sensible citizen should come out and protest."
Another protester said, "We want people to know that there are many citizens who disagree with the central government as they are misleading people."
Pulkeshinagar police official said, "They had permission for 24 hours but they are continued their protest for more than 24 hours and we provided them security."