BENGALURU: With various organisations carrying out protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), a different kind of protest was carried out on Tuesday morning. The shutters of Srinagar Shopping Complex on Church Street were spray painted with slogans such as ‘No CAA’, ‘No NRC’, ‘Free Kashmir’, ‘Fascist Modi Resign’, ‘RSS is Terrorist’, ‘I will not show my papers’, ‘BJP is Cancer, kill it before it kills you’ and ‘Vomit Shah’.
Some of these words were painted on the walls of other establishments on the street as well. Those who own these establishments were amazed to see the graffiti. “In the morning, many people had surrounded the complex. When I went there, I was surprised to see what was spray painted. I was not alone in my surprise,” said a store owner, on condition of anonymity.
However, after police learnt about the incident, they came to the spot and started inspecting the graffiti. In the afternoon, a group of people from pro-Hindu organisations came forward and painted over the graffiti.
“This is the work of cowards. They need to come forward and confess it was their doing, rather than doing it when no one is around. How can a statement like Free Kashmir be here? It is just not right,” said a member of the group.
However, when Cubbon Park police investigated, they found out through CCTV cameras that two people arrived at 3am and painted the walls. “They are yet to be identified and investigations are on. We have filed a case under the Karnataka State Disfigurement Act,” said an investigating officer. Chetan Singh Rathore, DCP Central, said, “We are investigating and have deployed police to patrol the area at night to make sure this does not happen again.”
Srishti School closed till Saturday
Just like the graffiti on Church Street, a wall near Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology had a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with writing underneath, saying, “Sab Changa Si.” Some of the students alleged that on seeing this, some BJP workers came to the college to interrogate them. One of the students said the traffic police towed away their bikes. The college administration held a meeting with the students and said that locals had been complaining about female students wearing short clothes and smoking in public places and parking in the wrong places. The college has released a notice that the college will be closed till Saturday. The police are investigating the graffiti.
1K placards against CAA, NRC
More than 1,000 people from the organisation Saviors of Democracy gathered at Russel Market held 1,000 placards and 1,000 candles in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens on Tuesday. The placards had slogans including “NO CAA, No NRC”, “We stand with JNU students,” “We are all indians, We stand united,” “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai, sab hain aapis mein bhai,” The organisation had staged protests in HMT layout, Town Hall, Benson Town and KR Puram earlier.