On the occasion of 71st Republic Day, the Indian National Flag was unfurled by the protesters atShaheen Bagh in the national capital. Inthe wee hours of Sunday, the protesters demonstrating against the amended citizenshiplaw sung the national anthem and read the preamble of the Constitution as thewomen-led agitation entered runs in its second month.
Protests have been going on at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi for over a monthagainst the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and proposed National Register ofCitizens (NRC).
The scene was similar at Jamia Millia Islamia where hundreds of studentsand people gathered to unfurl the tricolour at midnight. The students wavedthe national flag and chanted slogans of patriotism.
In Kolkata, thousands of residents took to streets for a novel RepublicDay celebration on Sunday with a 11-kilometer long human chain, reading of thepreamble and pledge to protect the country's Constitution and floating of blackballoons opposing CAA, NPR and NRC as the ongoing protests against thecitizenship law merge with the observance of the monumental day in the historyof independent India.
At South Kolkata's Park Circus - where the huge gathering of women sinceJanuary 7 has given the place the appellation of?Shaheen?Bagh?ofthe city of joy - the assembled people hoisted and salute the tri-colour,read the Preamble aloud in chorus and took a pledge to protect theConstitution.
"It is the day when our constitution became effective in 1950. Andwe are fighting to protect our constitution and the principles and values itupholds.
"Naturally, our protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act andthe celebration of the birth of our Republic has a strong connect," UzmaAlam, one of the organisers of the Park Circus protest, told IANS amidnon-stops sloganeering and shouts of "Azadi".
The organisers have also decided to float hundreds of black balloons withthe slogan "No CAA, No NRC (National Register of Citizens) and No NPR(National Population Register). ?
Meanwhile, apetition was filed in the Supreme Court last week seeking appropriatedirections to the police to open Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, which hasbeen closed since 15 December due to ongoing protests against the CAA.
Protests aregoing on across the country against CAA which grants citizenship to Hindus,Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecutionfrom Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before31 December, 2014.