Female supporters of India’s main opposition party Congress clashed with police in the country’s southern state of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday during a protest against the contentious Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) using artistic "Rangolis".
The specially made colourful Rangoli designs said “Say No to NRC (National Register of Citizens), CAA”.
Sudha, the secretary of the All India Mahila (Women) Congress, said the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation are creating new problems every day.
“The implementation of NRC and the CAA is not only a threat to Muslim community but everyone", she added. “In order to convey our solidarity with protestors who have been demonstrating against the new law, we will continue our protests until the government withdraws NRC and the CAA".
On Sunday, Tamil Nadu state police detained eight protestors, including five women while they were protesting by making Rangolis on the streets of Chennai. They were later released.
A senior police official said that the protestors were held on charges of holding a demonstration without prior permission of the government and were later allowed to leave.
People in large numbers adopted the new innovative protest method by drawing these colourful structures outside their houses in Chennai.
The country has witnessed widespread protests against the CAA, which grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who arrived in India on or before 31 December 2014
On the other hand, NRC is India’s supreme court-monitored exercise to identify genuine citizens of the country and deport illegal immigrants.