As the clarion call for protest against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act reverberated, thousands of people poured out onto the streets of New Delhi and other parts of the country to mark their protest against the Narendra Modi government’s ant-Muslim policies.
In Delhi, where the police had denied permission to two organisers, protestors still came out in full force despite Section 144 being clamped in certain sections of the city and mobile services being snapped.
The police also detained hundreds of protestors and packed them into buses to be dropped off at various locations on the outskirts of Delhi. Among those detained were CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Yogendra Yadav and human rights activist Harsh Mander. On Twitter, people wrote about being detained for simply standing around quietly with no placards in hand.
The protests, which have only doubled and tripled in size after the brutal police action at Jamia Milia Islamia University, Aligarh Muslim University and other universities last weekend, continued to swell during the day as crowds chanted and sloganeered against the government’s policies and its intent to make India a Hindu nationalist nation.
The Wire’s illustrator Pariplab Chakraborty ventured out in these troubled times to see a city come together despite facing a sea of khaki. Here’s a representation of what he saw:
Jamia Milia Islamia University. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Section 144 imposed in parts of the city. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Nearly 20 stations of the Delhi metro were closed down during the day. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The Delhi police had stationed water canons around areas where protests were taking place. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Placards and sloganeering at Jantar Mantar, the site where the protest was diverted to. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty