Marjina Begum, 23, of Rupahi in Assam’s Nagaon district set out from her home early on Sunday morning to participate in an all women’s rally at Saidoria playground to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“I will continue to oppose the CAA. We don’t support this. We are already overburdened with people, including the migrants from Bangladesh. We don’t need any more,” said Marjina, who studied till class VII.
More than 5,000 women participated in the protest on Sunday, along with several senior Congress leaders.
For the Congress party, it was a platform to launch their election campaign for the 2021 Assembly elections.
Assam has witnessed huge protests against the CAA.
Starting from the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), all the major organisations have been opposing the Act ever since the bill was tabled in Parliament.
Marjina added that her sister-in-law and mother-in-law also participated in the rally on Sunday.
“All of us in the family oppose the Act. I have also participated in some anti-CAA protest rallies in Nagaon town and other parts of the district. I am a Muslim but I will not support the Act even if this allows Muslims from the neighbouring countries,” Marjina said.
Among others, Assam Congress president Ripun Bora and MP Gaurav Gogoi participated in the rally.
“It’s great to see women coming out to protest in such large numbers in Assam. This indicates that the women of our state have realised the importance of it. This is a strong message against the BJP and the CAA,” said Gaurav, addressing the rally.
Gaurav also slammed Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal for not giving much focus on the development of the state.
Ripun Bora said the BJP is trying to divide society in the name of religion.
“The BJP wants the votes of Hindu immigrants and as such, it brought in the CAA, which has divided people. They (the BJP) are making it about Assamese versus Bengali, Muslims versus Muslims and Hindus versus Muslims. But the people have realised this now. The women of society are against BJP now. They have understood that the BJP is not doing anything for the welfare for society,” said Bora.