Hyderabad: With President Ram Nath Kovind in Hyderabad for his winter sojourn, there was a demand from the people gathered at a meeting here on Saturday to give him a memorandum to reject the Citizenship Amendment Act.
There was also a demand that every Hyderabadi must write to the President and to the Supreme Court to reject this Act.
Hindustan was the one word that reverberated in Darussalaam as people responded with enthusiasm to the speakers to the meeting organised by the United Muslim Action Committee demanding rejection of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The open ground of Darussalam was full and the terraces of buildings were choked people. The star speaker, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, could take the stage only at about 11.30 pm. There were 27 speakers who were given two minutes each to speak.
There were more than 100 Indian flags waving in the ground as every speaker on the podium exhorted that they were Indians.
The crowd rejected the idea of dividing the country on the basis of religion and said that these were steps for changing the Constitution.
Dr Asma Zehra, convener of the women's wing of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Abul National Urdu University students union president Umar Farooqi, Mr Hamid Mohammed Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami and many others said the agitation would continue till the Centre takes back the Act.
Captain Pandu Ranga Rao, historian said, “I was born as a Hyderabadi in 1943. I became Indian in 1950. The movement that starts in Hyderabad will always be successful. I request Asaduddin Owaisi to start a ‘Save India Movement’. Home minister Amit Shah must change his surname as it is a Persian name. They are questioning role of Muslims but they do not know their contribution to the country who have given the Tricolour and the slogan ‘Jai Hind’.”
Indian flags dotted the rally organised by the United Muslim Action Committee, and the National Anthem was sing before the meeting started at Darussalam on Saturday night to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
A crowd of about 15,000 persons, comprising mostly of students, heard the speakers eagerly, while an estimated 10,000 waited outside.
The audience carried placards featuring Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the father of the Constitution.
There was one demand voiced by all — that the Act must be shelved.
Secularism was the theme of the meeting where the stress was to not allow the communal agenda of the government.
There was a demand that the false accusations, rumours and wrong information which are being spread must be countered by everyone. For this reason it was felt that there must be meeting about CAA and NRC in maximum community gathering to make everyone aware of it.
Speakers said the CAA and the NRC were not only against Muslims but every Indian. The Act was only to trouble people and not for any good for anyone. The demand for documents was of forefathers was not a valid demand from the government. To use these documents for citizenship was not justified.
Dr Chiranjeevi Kolluri, historian, who came despite not feeling well exhorted that people from the Muslim, Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe communities to come forward as one.
He said, “When these people are called minorities they are actually working towards isolating them. This must first stop calling themselves minority. These steps of CAA are to change the constitution and it has to be stopped.”
The crowd was more than 15,000 inside Dasussalam and another 10,000 waited outside the gates.
The crowd was very energetic and almost surged towards the dais, prompting Mr Owaisi to say that he would end the meeting immediately if people do not follow discipline. He had to push a few people away.
The barricades on the front were removed. Bouncers stood in line to manage entry and exit near the stage as the crowd was increasing.
