It has been 12 days and a small neighbourhood in Southeast Delhi has refusedto sleep.
Women in burqas, some with their children are holding the fort in thefight against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens(NRC) in Shaheen Bagh. India has been rocked by demonstrations since December12, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, enacted the CAA thatprovides non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan whomoved here before 2015 a pathway to Indian citizenship.
The nights echo with slogans, chants and songs in a gathering of hundredsof women.
Women have been blocking a kilometre-long stretch of Kalindi Kunj road, whichlinks the area with Noida. They have just one demand: withdrawal of NRC.
While some protests have turned violent - at least 21 people have beenkilled in clashes with police -?Shaheen?Bagh's occupation is entirelypeaceful.
From the maze-like, Muslim-dominated neighbourhood that flanks one sideof the highway, a volunteer group of more than 100 people run the site, workingin shifts and providing everything from crowd-control and food to bedding andmedicines.
¡°The government wants us to prove that this is our home. If we want to,we can show them the papers to prove our citizenship. But there will bemillions who will not be able to produce the required documents. This fight isfor those people,¡± Kishwar Jahan, a housewife who has been sitting on thedharna for the last eight days, told The Times of India.
Locals have made a make-shift stage adorned with posters of MahatmaGandhi, Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Dandi March.
A white tarpaulin sheet serves as a screen, used to broadcast revolutionaryfilms. On Monday, it was ¡°Lion of the desert¡±, a 1981 film directed byMoustapha Akkad, which revolves around Libyan leader Omar Mukhtar, who foughtItalian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
The masterminds of the intricately organised operation are two youngengineers, trained at the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - AasifMujtaba and Sharjeel, who gave only one name.
Mujtaba said he and Sharjeel identify volunteers, delegate tasks, bringin speakers from outside the area, and made sure the protesters avoided anyconfrontations with police.
"At least tomorrow, I won't feel that I could have spoken up for myrights but I didn't," Mujtaba told Reuters. "Whatever happenstomorrow, at least we'll be happy, that we could have done it, and we didit."?