Mumbai, as usual, set the example: It was a spontaneous outpouring, not a spurious one organised by a political party; a fantastic crowd, disciplined to the core, which wanted to hammer home just one point: You may be stone deaf and refuse to listen to us, but we will not stop asserting our right to speak up.
The city police respected their right to assemble and protest but it was not so in Mangaluru, where two people died in police firing, and in Uttar Pradesh where, too, one person died due to gunshot wounds.
These were pan India protests – from New Delhi and Lucknow in the North till Ahmedabad in the West and Thiruvananthapuram across the Vindhyas.
New Delhi: It was Capital’s shame. Section 144 had been clamped around the Red Fort, there were multiple barricades on roads, intended to thwart the daredevils; 18 Delhi Metro stations downed their shutters at short notice and there was an online black out.
The ones who suffered had nothing to do with the Citizenship Act or the National Register of Citizens; they had to just catch a flight or go to the hospital, but got stuck on the Delhi-Gurugam highway for hours, eventually missing their appointment; the airlines, too, had to cancel many flights; some just because the crew was stuck in massive traffic jams, a fallout of the Section 144 imposed in many areas of the Capital.
At many Metro stations which went into lockout, commuters disembarked from trains and found that the entry & exit points were closed.
Complying with instructions received from the government, authorities suspended voice, SMS and data in certain areas. ‘‘We are sorry for the inconvenience,’’ was the terse message from the mobile service providers.
Section 144 is meant for maintaining tranquillity and not for suppressing people's freedom of protest. Yet the government deemed it wise to detain Left leaders Sitaram Yechuri and D Raja as also Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit.
In disgust, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi dubbed it an undeclared emergency. Finally, seized of the matter, Home Minister Amit Shah called a high level review meeting to discuss the protests. Thank god, for small mercies!
Despite Section 144, obstacles on roads, Metro station lockdown and online curbs, at least two rallies were held at Jantar Mantar near the Parliament House and the Red Fort.
The call for a peaceful protest was given by the CPM and some other parties. The police had denied permission, citing the prohibitory orders in force.
The citizens, nonetheless, came out in large numbers to protest and the police could only hustle them in the buses kept on the stand by.
With the protestors converging at the rally sites despite the multiple impediments, the police finally gave up and decided to watch from the periphery.
Even the BJP Headquarters was ‘gheraoed’ by protesters who quietly dispersed on the arrival of the armed police personnel.
In a tweet, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the government is so frightened that it is trying to shut all voices. ‘‘But the more you suppress, the louder will be the voices," she warned.
The Congress had not given the call for the protest on Thursday but it came out firing on all cylinders.
