Alayka Aftab, a third-year sociology student at St Xavier’s College, recited a poem at the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens on Mayo Road on Friday. The poem is transcribed below
Yeh humein manzoor nahin
Tum zulm karo aur hum chup rahe,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Mazhab aur jaati ke naam par
tum humein bnaato,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Jamhuriyat ko tum
tanashahi mein badlo,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Tum humari ain to apni marzi se
todh-marodh kar pesh karo,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Tum andha kanoon ka gala ghotkar
maar do,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Hum rozgari maange aur tum
bill mein bill pass karte jao,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Hum awaaz uthaye aur tum humari goonj ko goli ki awaaz se daba do,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Tum apne dalalon aur gundo se
humein pitwao,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Deshbhakti ke naam par tum aatankwad aur aman ke bajaye
nafrat failao,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Tum azaad desh ko hawaalat
bana do,
Purey mulk ko kabar bana do,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Main ek Muslim hoon aur meri zabaan Urdu hain,
Tum mujhe Pakistani bulao,
Yeh mujhe manzoor nahin.
Hum utne hi Hindustani hain, jitna ki tum. Shayad usse bhi zyada.
Tum humein kagaz dikhane ko kahon,
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Tum jo bhi kar rahe ho hum usse raazi nahin.
Is liye aaj is jamaat me hum buland awaaz se kehte hain
Yeh humein manzoor nahin.
Snapshots from the anti-CAA rally organised by the Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity
Participants in the march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens on Mayo Road on Friday. Picture by Jaideep Chatterjee
(From left) Author-columnist Devdan Chaudhuri, musician Amanda Sodhi and freelance copy editor Shahana Chatterjee. “We are walking to uphold the idea of India envisaged by its founding fathers,” Shahana said
Former Supreme Court judge Asok Kumar Ganguly
Author Amit Chaudhuri
A group of students from St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Loreto College and South Calcutta Girls’ College at the starting point of the march
Jamia Millia Islamia student Aysha Renna N, who shielded a friend from the batons of Delhi police, and peace activist Harsh Mander. Aysha started her speech with “Aamra kaara? Nagarik!” to loud applause from the crowd
Gulzar, a businessman from Gujarat who made Calcutta his home four years ago, was at the march holding an anti-CAA poster
Septuagenarians Madhuchhanda Karlekar, who runs an NGO, and Sudha Kaul, the founder of the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy
Brishti Chanda, a law student, with her friend Srijata Bagchi of Shri Shikshayatan College
Shukla Sanyal, a former professor of history at Calcutta and Presidency universities, and husband Palash Baran Pal, emeritus professor of physics at CU
Art college teachers (from left) Partha Gayen, Pradip Mondal, Arup Das and Tanmoy Banerjee stood at the gate of the institute. As the rally approached, they clicked pictures and eventually joined in
Sunil M Caleb, the principal of Bishop’s College
Armed with posters and waving Tricolours, a group of around 30 students from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences came to the march
Sutapa Neogi, a former college teacher, and her daughter Mohor, a budding architect, walked in a rally for the first time on Friday
Shabina Khan (left), a businesswoman from Park Circus, walked with neighbours 69-year-old Yasmin Saluja (right) and Shehnaz Khan
Santosh Rao (second from left) and Mohammad Shamir (extreme right), neighbours from Howrah’s Shibpur, came together with a poster. “We have grown up together and will continue to live here together, come what may,” said Rao, a trader
Ankita Ali, a postgraduate student of Bengali at Jadavpur University and a painter, came with a poster that showed the “right place” for CAA-NRC-NPR