3 min readNew DelhiJan 16, 2020 08:59 AM IST
First published on: Jan 14, 2020 at 08:05 PM IST
College students participate in a peaceful protest against Citizenship Amendment Act.
The protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) reached Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, with a group of spectators seen wearing T-shirts that read “No NRC, No NPR, No CAA” during the first ODI between India and Australia.
Despite alleged measures to ensure spectators don’t display signs of protest, a group of college students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai University and IIT Bombay entered the venue with T-shirts protesting against CAA and NRC — two issues that have triggered widespread protests and violence in the country, leaving 26 dead.
“Twenty-five students from various colleges took part in the protest,” said Arish Qamar, a research scholar from International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai. In a telephonic interview with indianexpress.com, Qamar said the students removed their outer clothing between the 15th and the 20th over of the Indian innings to reveal the slogan.
“We opened our outer shirts somewhere around the 20th over. We chanted slogans during the match, such as ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Vande Mataram’ but no slogans were raised regarding NPR, NRC or anything,” he said.
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Qamar said security personnel intervened when they were displaying the message on T-shirts and were asked to remove them.
Reports also emerged that fans wearing black outfits were turned away from the stadium over fears that it was part of a protest against the contentious law, which came into effect from January 10. On being asked if they saw or faced a similar issue, Qamar said he didn’t witness anything like this.
Earlier this month, during a T20I match between India and Sri Lanka at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, spectators were not allowed to carry banners, posters, and placards into the venue. However, the match did witness vocal protests from the Guwahati crowd against CAA when state CM Sarbananda Sonowal and state FM Himanta Biswa were shown on giant screens at the venue.
College students participate in a peaceful protest against Citizenship Amendment Act.
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