Over a month after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed and turned into an Act, protesters in the streets have shown absolutely no signs of giving up.
If anything, India's citizens are coming up with new initiatives to protest the Act, which is considered non-secular and discriminatory against Muslims. While some have taken to giving roses to police, some have turned to making music and art about it, and some have taken to an indefinite protest against it, some are showing up with anti-CAA messages at not very ordinary places.
At the annual Mumbai marathon event, one runner came up with one such innovative way to protest the act.
Posting on Twitter, he shared that every year at the Mumbai marathon, he unfurls a flag of India, but this time, he intended to add a special message to it.
Quoting Tamil rapper Arivu's song Sanda Seivom, the message reads "We’re all immigrants.” He explains that he wrote it by hand on a khadi cloth
His protest was to run the marathon as he always has, and at the finish line, unfurl the flag at the finish line, as he always has, but this time with a twist. The message in Tamil spells out his dissent against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Below the message in Tamil, written in English script is the Hindi line "Kagaz nahin dikhayenge," (We will not show papers.)
For many years at the Mumbai marathon finish line,I unfurl the 🇮🇳 flag proudly but this year I am unfurling something even more important - I wrote this by hand on khadi cloth. The Tamil line means “We’re all immigrants” (from the Sanda Seivom video) நாம் எல்லோரும் வந்தேறிகளே pic.twitter.com/FnBMbepdYP
— 🇮🇳 Srini Swaminathan🇮🇳 (@srini091) January 18, 2020
He ended up unfurling the cloth at the marathon, which he has been running for 28 years.
Grateful to finish my 28th full marathon in Mumbai today @TataMumMarathon The weather was absolutely benevolent and support was great too. I started, ran and finished very strongly. Dedicating my 5 hours of pain and effort to the women of #ShaheenBaghProtest pic.twitter.com/TVvHUGRDIQ
— 🇮🇳 Srini Swaminathan🇮🇳 (@srini091) January 19, 2020
He added that it was in solidarity with the Shaheen Bagh protesters, who have been on an indefinite strike after the introduction of the Act.
The Citizenship Amendment Act essentially provides citizenship to illegal immigrant to belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian faiths from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have lived in India without documentation.
LIVE TV
