NEW DELHI: People of different faiths came together on Sunday to participate in a 'sarva dharma sambhava' (equal respect for all religions or peaceful co-existence of all religions) ceremony at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, where anti-citizenship law protestors have been demonstrating for almost a month now.
The inter-faith ceremony, where there was a traditional Hindu-style 'hawan', chants of Sikh 'kirtan' and Quran recitation, saw participants also reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and taking an oath to preserve its "socialist, secular" values, international media reported.
"Scriptures from the Geeta, the Bible, the Quran were read and Gurbani held. Then the Preamble of the Constitution was also read out by people from varying faiths who are supporting this movement," said Syed Taseer Ahmed, one of the initial organisers of the protest.
The crowd swelled from hundreds to over a thousand by afternoon. Being a Sunday and the weather relatively warmer, more people joined the protest.
The concept of 'sarv dharm sambhav' was popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during India's freedom struggle against the British rule to promote inter-faith harmony. Hundreds of protestors, including women and children, stayed put at the Sarita Vihar-Kalindi Kunj road at Shaheen Bagh on Sunday, as their movement for withdrawal of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) was set to complete a month on Monday.
Zainul Abidin, 44, of Ghaffar Manzil had started a hunger strike on December 16 to press the demand for repealing the CAA and after a fortnight was joined by Mehrunissa, 40, of Sarita Vihar. Besides them, three elderly women - now popular as the 'Dabang Dadis' of Shaheen Bagh - too have been a constant sight at the centre stage of the protest venue since day one. A replica of the India Gate has also come near the protest site with names of the people who have lost their lives during anti-CAA protests across the country inked on it.
Over two dozen such names are written on the replica including those from states like Assam, Karnataka, Bihar and most of them from Uttar Pradesh. People have been protesting at Shaheen Bagh and nearby Jamia Millia Islamia here to oppose the CAA and the NRC. Besides Delhi, protests have unfolded in several parts of the country over the contentious law since it was passed on December 11 and have led to clashes at several places including Uttar Pradesh, where nearly 20 people have died.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also joined the demonstration against the CAA and the NRC outside Jamia Millia Islamia.
Addressing the protesters outside the university, which has seen a number of protests since the new Citizenship Act was enacted into law in December, Shashi Tharoor said: "dissent is very precious".
On the incidents of violence at Jamia and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Shashi Tharoor said the two universities have been sites for very "shameful behaviour".
"Dissent is very precious in our country. Jamia and JNU have been sites for very shameful misbehaviour. In Jamia, the police themselves burst into the hostels and libraries and injured some students," Shashi Tharoor said.
"It is about supporting the protest and also objecting the manner in which the students have been dealt with. It is important to understand that the students deserve support," the Congress leader said.
Acclaimed author Arundhati Roy also turned up at Jamia Millia Islamia to express solidarity with students. "If we all get together, there won't be a detention centre big enough for us," she said. "Maybe there will be a day when this government will be in a detention centre, and all of us azad (free). We won't back down," she added.
