Jamia, Shaheen Bagh protesters celebrate Republic Day, pledge to continue fight to save Constitution

By Naz Asghar

Jan 26, 2020

New Delhi: New Delhi: The protesters against CAA-NRC in the Jamia and Shaheen Bagh areas on Sunday celebrated the Republic Day by taking a pledge to continue their fight for the secular and democratic character of the Indian polity as enshrined in the Constitution, and to continue to oppose the ”unconstitutional” citizenship Act.

The national flag was unfurled at the Jamia protest venue by one of the oldest alumni of Jamia Ashraf Saheb, while at Shaheen bagh, the task was performed by three elderly women who have come to be known as the ‘dadis of Shaheen Bagh’ for leading the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and the mother of Rohith Vemula, a former student of the Un Hyderabad University who committed suicide in January 2016.

This was followed by mass singing of the national anthem and patriotic song by a very huge crowd at Shaheen Bagh. At Jamia, the gathering read the Preamble of the Constitution in English, Hindi and Urdu.The protest area at both the places reverbrated with slogans of ‘Bharat mata ki Jain’, ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.

The gate number 7 of the jamia University outside which the students are staging a sit-in since December 15 following the police attack on the Campus after their protest march against NRC and CAA, and the area around the place wore a festive look as children and men and women of all age groups in their colourful best joined in the celebrations.

The same was the scene at Shaheen Bagh, which saw a turn out of a massive crowed of proteesters and their supporters who had come from remote parts of the capital and other cities.

The national flag was the colour of the day with railings on both sides of the road decorated with green, saffron and white baloons, and the crowds waving the tricolour with cheeks and foreheads of many of them painted with the three colours of the national flag. Patriotic songs and tuned played on the loud speaker added to the ambience of the function.

At Jamia,tThe flag hoisting and reading of the Preamble was followed by Jamia University ‘tarana’–‘dayar-e-shauq mera, shahr-e-aarzu mera– which had been composed by Khaleeq Siddiqui.

This was followed by a recital of freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil’s poem ‘sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qatil mein hai.(We have resolved to die for our cause, let us see how mighty our destroyers are).

The speakers on this occasion recalled the day the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution and eleborated upon the principles on which the Constitution was drawn by those who had waged a long battle for the freedom of the country.

—India News Stream