With Slogans & Poetry, Anti-CAA Protests in B’luru Carry Overnight

The vigil fueled by slogans, songs and poetry will see students occupy the Bengaluru spot till 6pm Wednesday.

“My brothers and sisters from Jamia, AMU and JNU. Thank you. You have woken up a community that was in deep slumber,” said a student, one of the many who were holding Bengaluru’s first overnight vigil against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

If the Gandhi statue near Maurya circle was mute witness to a handful of students gathered around 6pm, by midnight, the park and surrounding area were filled thousands of students and activists.

It's 10 pm and the crowd, mostly students, is swelling at the overnight protest in Maurya circle in Bengaluru. It's getting chilly, but most have come prepared to stay the night.#JNUattack #CAAProtest pic.twitter.com/huRgcKmrMb

— Arun Dev (@ArunDev1) January 7, 2020

The vigil fueled by slogans, songs and poetry will see students occupy this prominent junction in the Bengaluru till 6pm on Wednesday, 8 January.

For some their overnight vigil was tribute to brave women at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi, while for others it was to show solidarity to students across the country.

National anthem begins at 12 midnight. #CAAProtest #Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/HD7Pu7vHvG

— Arun Dev (@ArunDev1) January 7, 2020

For 19-year-old Sumuki, a B. Com student, this was her first protest. “It still hasn’t sunk in. Just few months back I wouldn’t imagined that I would be taking part in some sort of a protest. But when I saw the what happened in JNU it felt that I should be here,” she said.

Another protester, an I-T employee who didn’t want to be named, had come with his wife. “I don’t think I will be stay here like how these students are planning to do. But I felt that if they have the courage to stay out in the cold for cause, the least I can do it show my solidarity by showing up,” he said.

“I don’t know who the person sitting next to me was. I met him for the first time today, but now I think I can call Shane (the person next him) a friend. I think that’s this is all about. We are all here because we strongly feel we have been wronged and the protests in Delhi, especially in JNU, has given us the confidence to fight,” said Rohan Menezes, an engineering student.

Police present at the location said that the numbers were more than what they had expected. “The barricades had to pushed back several as more people started coming in,” said a policeman deployed at the Maurya circle.