Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has appealed to the women agitators sitting on dharna at Nagpada to call off their agitation. While the government has claimed that the agitators were positive about their appeal, one of the members of delegation has confirmed that the decision to call off the dharna will be taken in Tuesday's meeting. Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has promised them to try to evolve a consensus among all the three parties to bring a resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) like Kerala did in the state assembly. Besides this, the state has started sending notices to the agitators to increase the pressure on them to call of the dharna.
A delegation of agitating woman along with legislators Abu Azmi, Rais Shaikh, and former legislator Waris Pathan met Deshmukh on Monday at Mantralaya. They demanded a written commitment that the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) will not be implemented in the state.
"The home minister made it clear that it has already been announced by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and himself that the state will not snatch away anyone's citizenship in the state. But they were stressing to have this in writing. Then, a press note issued by Deshmukh on January 29 stating the same was given them with his signature," a member of the delegation said.
"We demanded to pass a resolution like Kerala did against CAA in the Maharashtra Assembly. Deshmukh said, since this is a government of three parties, it would have to evolve consensus first on this issue. He promised he would try his best for this," former legislator Waris Pathan told FPJ.
"After Deshmukh's appeal, we are meeting tomorrow to take a final call on winding up the agitation," he added.
Addressing a press conference, Deshmukh informed the media about this meeting.
"The agitation going on at Nagpada doesn't have sanction from the state government. It is not good to have such agitations without proper sanctions from state agencies. I appealed them to call of their agitation. They were positive and promised to take the decision soon," he said.
"We have assured the protesters that no one will lose their citizenship due to CAA, NPR and NRC," Deshmukh said.
Police issues notices to protestors
Six people, including a woman, were issued notices under section 149 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on Monday in connection with a sit-in protest at Nagpada in the metropolis against CAA and NRC, the police said.
The protest, which has been going on for nine days now, is akin to the one in Shaheen Bagh in Delhi and, therefore, is being called 'Mumbai Bagh' by some sections of the media.
The six were brought to Nagpada police station and allowed to go after the section 149 notices were served, an official said. Section 149 of CrPC gives police the right to take steps to prevent a cognisable offence.
"We have issued notice under section 149 of CrPC to six persons, including a woman, who are part of the protest in Nagpada," Zone III Deputy Commissioner of Police AbhinashKumar told PTI.
Shibu Khan, one of the protesters, claimed police were making rounds of the site and taking down names and numbers of women participating in the sit-in.
"They are harassing us and forcing us to vacate the place," Khan alleged.
