Over 70 years later, Mumbai witnesses yet another historic uprising
On December 19,
something moved. They came by the thousands: Hindus, Muslims, Christians, men,
women of all hue and denomination, to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). After the Quit
India movement in 1942, August Kranti Maidan was witness to yet another
historic uprising.
So who or what drove
the change? The protest, steered as it was by non-political activists, shows
that “in Mumbai, there’s a very strong urge for citizens’ united action,” said
Sudheendra Kulkarni, founder, Forum for New South Asia, an advocate of peace
between India and Pakistan. “The spirit and size
of Thursday’s protest was unbelievable,” he said. “Mumbai has been known for
Bollywood and as the country’s financial capital. It must now recover its place
in national politics, and in the imagination and thought leadership of India,”
he said.
India’s most liberal
city wasn’t always ‘apathetic’. The city’s spirit of protest has a vibrant and
nationally-rooted past, often ignored in popular discourse, said Lara Jesani, a
human rights lawyer. “Due to increasing globalisation and neo-liberal policies,
and its growth as a financial capital, the past few decades saw Mumbai become
silent on issues of national importance. But at the same time, the spirit of
Bombay has always been alive,” she said.
The spirit that Ms.
Jesani talks about, is “characterised by a fierce protection of freedoms.” The
CAA, “with its threat to the cosmopolitan fabric of the city, reawakened it,”
she says.
Mr. Kulkarni pointed
out how the city had produced “giants of thought and action” during the freedom
movement — leaders like Mahatma Gandhi (who spent many years in Mumbai and
famously said, “Bombay has never disappointed me”), B.R. Ambedkar (the Father
of the Indian Constitution who spent years in central Mumbai) and Lokmanya
Tilak (who began his 10-day community Ganapati celebrations as a unifier for
the freedom movement from this city). The Indian National Army agitation
against British rule too was carried out here. No other city has contributed as
much to the freedom struggle in terms of people’s participation... political action was in Delhi but the people’s movement was always here.”...
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