Mumbai Bagh protest still going strong

On Wednesday, it will be a month since the all-woman, antiCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest at Morland Road, dubbed Mumbai Bagh, began.

On the 20-feet wide road beside Nagpada's Arabia Hotel, women are following in the steps of their counterparts at New Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, where hundreds of burqa-clad Muslim women are on the streets in an indefinite sit-in against the imposition of the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the CAA. The protesters are demanding that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray pass an official resolution in the legislative assembly against the imposition of the contentious citizenship Act; until then, the women have affirmed that they are staying put.

The protest, which began with only 45 participants, now witnesses a footfall of at least 100 women every day. They have been chanting 'Azaadi' slogans, singing patriotic songs, reciting poems and performing street plays. In the course of the past one month, there have been several attempts to snuff out the protests. Notices were served and many visitors were detained by police.

On the intervening night of February 1 and 2, Mumbai Police unsuccessfully attempted to evict the women. The increase in deployment of police forces has only served to draw more women to the venue.

“In the last one month we have realised that true power lies not in choosing the path of violence but resisting oppressors with dignity,” said Huma Ansari, one of the protesters.