New Delhi, Dec 20 Protesters carried placards saying “We are born here and will die here” as residents of the area adjoining Jama Masjid joined the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act led by Bhim Army leader Chandrashekhar Azad on Friday.
The protesters said that the Bhim army has come for their cause and they will support him and chanted “Jai Bhim”.
One of the residents Mohammed Khurshid talking to IANS said that “I was born here, my father and grandfather were born here, they died here and I will also die in the country and its correct to oppose this law which is divisive and communal.”
Protesters came from as far as Gurugram to join the agitation.
Zafiruddin who came to the protest said “the government should first erase the names of our forefathers from India Gate then ask us to prove our nationality.”
Echoing the view of Zafiruddin, Mohammad Faisal started speaking impromptu and said “our forefathers have not given sacrifice for this day that anybody can come and ask us to prove our nationality.”
Faisal has come with his friend Mohit Sharma who said “This is not done you cannot divide us like this and we have been in the area since our birth and both of us played together in childhood and grew up together.”
Also in the protest was Delhi High Court lawyer Mehmood Paracha who said “the time has come that all the Muslims, Dalits and OBCs come together and oppose this move of the government and protest peacefully.”
The protests at Jama Masjid started after Friday prayers ended in the mosque. The protest was joined by Chandrashekhar Azad whose supporters were also present. They first chanted slogans then read the Preamble of the Constitution and marched towards India Gate.
Placards were held aloft by the protesters denouncing the CAA along with pictures of B.R. Ambedkar and Paramveer Chakra awardee Abdul Hamid and the tricolour.
