India's first-time protesters: Mothers and grandmothers stage weeks-long sit-in against... - 0 views
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As the temperature in India’s capital plunged on a recent evening, Rehana Khatun bundled her 29-day-old daughter in a fuzzy quilt and went out for her new nightly activity: participating in a sit-in against the government.
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She is one of a few hundred Muslim women — including grandmothers and children — who have occupied a stretch of road for a month, undeterred by rain, cold or threats, as a sign of opposition to a new law that excludes Muslim migrants from a fast track to citizenship.
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The protest in the capital’s Shaheen Bagh neighborhood has become an enduring symbol of the demonstrations that have swept India over the new law, which was passed in December. Most of the women are homemakers, many in hijabs, and their long-running vigil has been featured on prime-time news shows, inspired similar sit-ins and attracted solidarity from across India.
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Hundreds of thousands of people from around the country have taken to the streets in opposition to the law since its passage. Opponents say the measure is discriminatory and violates India’s secular ethos.
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Monday, a member of Parliament from the ruling party said that any protester who damaged public property should be shot or jailed.
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Several protests have devolved into showdowns with the police, who have responded with force. Since December, 24 people have died nationwide, nearly all of them in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state.
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The peaceful sit-in at Shaheen Bagh began after police stormed a nearby university campus and assaulted unarmed student protesters. The first night, the demonstration consisted of four women and six men. In the following days, the men went to work, but the number of women coming out of their homes kept growing. Now the protest is led by women while the men watch from the sidelines.
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“In all my 35 years of working with Muslim women, I had never witnessed a scene such as this,” activist Syeda Hameed, chair of the Muslim Women’s Forum, wrote after a visit. “What I was witnessing was the new generation of Muslim women who speak boldly without an iota of fear.”
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India’s powerful home minister, Amit Shah, has said the citizenship law will be followed by a nationwide push to verify all citizens, an exercise that many believe targets Muslims.
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As the protest has endured, there have also been points of friction. There are arguments over who should be allowed on stage, whether to accept donations of supplies and how to keep away local politicians. Some chief volunteers recently tried to call off the protest to avoid its becoming a tool for political parties, but the women did not leave. Rumors about impending action by police to clear the road has not deterred them, either.