Hyderabad: Videos and images of a young woman raising finger on policemen while others shielding their colleague from being lynched by the cops went viral. The three women are Ladeeda Farzana, Ayesha Renna and Chanda Yadav. They are the students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University, one of the first universities where anti-CAA protests broke out in the national capital.
Women have largely played a less prominent role in the history of mainstream protests in India, more so in case of Muslim women as social norms have often restricted their participation in the public arena. This may be the first time when women have come out on the streets. This time, as one of the women protestors, said, the government has forced them to come out on the streets.
Muslim and non-Muslim women have taken centre stage as the very symbols of resistance in protests across the country triggered by the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). In a rare sign of public anger against the government, many women are leading the agitations against the legislation that offers only non-Muslim religious minorities from select countries a path to citizenship.
An 18-year-old girl by name Indulekha Parthan gave a befitting reply to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi by wearing ‘burkha’ and holding placard that reads, “Mr Modi, I am Indulekha. Identify me by my dress?”.
She was referring to Narendra Modi’s remark in which he had said that those indulging in arson can be identified by their clothes.
As massive protests against the new citizenship law, that targets Muslims, grow by the day, many women from across the country – from Assam to New Delhi to Uttar Pradesh to Kerala – have come out to collectively raise their voices against the law. Women are at the forefront of the protests as they fear for the future of their children in a world post NRC and CAA. They say that the Act must go because if implemented, they will all be left scrambling for documents to prove their citizenship to the State.
According to Reuters many Muslim women and girls from conservative backgrounds sneaked out of their homes to join the protests as they felt it is necessary to save the constitution and protect their community from the draconian Act. They say they are not scared of the government or the prime minister and are ready to take a bullet in their chest to fight for their rights.
