Massive Crowd, Multi-Faith Prayer At CAA Protest In Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh

People of different faiths came together on Sunday to participate in a ''sarva dharma sambhava'' - a multi-faith prayer ceremony - at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, where anti-citizenship law protesters have been demonstrating for almost a month now.

The inter-faith ceremony, where there was a traditional Hindu-style "hawan" and chants of Sikh "kirtan", saw participants also reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and taking an oath to preserve its "socialist, secular" values.

"Scriptures from the Gita, 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," Syed Taseer Ahmed, one of the organisers of the protest, told news agency PTI.

The crowd swelled from hundreds to over a thousand by the afternoon. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was among those who addressed the protest in the evening. Being a Sunday and the weather relatively warmer, more people could join the protest, he added.

The concept of ''sarv dharm sambhav'' (equal respect for all religions or peaceful co-existance of all religions) was popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during India's freedom struggle against the British rule to promote inter-faith harmony.

Hundreds of protesters, including women and children, stayed put at the Sarita Vihar-Kalindi Kunj road at Shaheen Bagh on Sunday, as their movement for the 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 demand for repealing the CAA and after a fortnight was joined by Mehrunissa, 40, of Sarita Vihar.

Besides them, three elderly women 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 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 over 20 people have died.

According to the amended law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

Critics of the law say that, combined with the NRC it discriminates against Muslims and makes religion a criteria for citizenship for the first time.

However, the central government has dismissed the allegations, maintaining that the law is intended to give citizenship to the persecuted people from the three neighbouring countries and not to take away citizenship from anyone.