The eye counts around 500 women around the Hussainabad Clock Tower on Tuesday night amidst a sea of tricolour. Many more men stand beyond the plastic rope barriers. One man constantly moves around the outer most barrier speaking into a mike “Don’t stand. Keep moving” he says. The place is thronged by the police— many of them sitting around bonfires.
The multiple notices that were earlier strung on the outer barrier, which asked all but women and the media to keep off the protest site have now been replaced by a banner which reads, “Important Notice. No Cash. No Paytm. If anyone wants to help in any way, please give in kind. #NoToCAA #NoToNPR #NoToNRC”.
Mohammed Huzaifa, a male volunteer at the site says that the men are very clear in not wanting to create any rifts with the police. They have even taken to traffic management. “We don’t want the shopkeepers to be hassled. We don’t want traffic jams”, he says.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Amit Shah had addressed a rally in support of the CAA in Lucknow, making it clear that the amendment would not be rolled back. “That is one door closed on us. The NRC will be the second door. Then we will be shown out”, says Huzaifa.
The protest site is replete with artwork. On the plastic ropes hang hundreds of drawings of the Indian flag— the obvious handiwork of children. One drawing reads, “I love India. I live in India”. The bare branches of the trees around the site are also festooned with artwork and slogans. One reads, “Bhakts Time to Get Unbhakt”. Another says “Maine Ishq bhi kiya hai, Main Jung bhi karunga” (I have loved and I will go to war as well) Messages written in colourful chalk on the ground read “We want azaadi, Hindustan is ours”.
I ask some protesters why they have chosen the ‘Azaadi’ chant. They say they want to be free of the CAA. “No to food. No to water. No to CAA”, says one. There is also talk of what will happen to women from Pakistan who have married men from Lucknow. “Once you move beyond fear, there is nothing to be afraid of”, says another who has joined the protest for the first time. Yet another says, “They took away our blankets. Now we come wearing so many layers of clothing that we will never need blankets. What will they do now?”
Tempers are getting frayed and the police are on the edge. One volunteer says that when he offered a senior police officer water in the morning, he was rebuked. A constable on duty at the site says, “We are doomed to be here for eight hours at a stretch. What happens to our other duties? What happens to beat policing? What happens to the other crimes which will take place while we are here”, he asks.
In the fog that has begun to settle on the Clock Tower, no answers are coming through.
