Nandita Das joins Shaheen Bagh protest debate
Actor Nandita Das has joined the raging debate over protests at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Speaking on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Das said more places like Shaheen Bagh are coming up across the country.
“They (government) are asking those who have been living here for four generations to prove that they are Indians. This is very sad. I think everyone should speak up,” she said today.
Das said the protests against CAA and NRC are "spontaneous" and no political parties are involved in them. She said the protests are led by students and common people.
"The youth has created a hope in the country. Every other place is becoming a Shaheen Bagh now, and I think as human beings, we should speak up against these laws,” Das said.
She emphasised that with the economic slowdown, growing unemployment rate, and now with the CAA and the NRC, the country has become a topic of discussion across the world as “people are being divided on the basis of religion”.
“We haven’t seen this kind of unemployment in possibly 50 years. The economy is going down. International newspapers are writing about what’s happening. This is the first time that we are being divided on religious lines.
“Our Constitution has given us the right to equality. You may belong to any caste, gender or religion but you are equal under the Constitution. And if you believe in that equality, you wouldn’t want to see any sort of segregation,” Das said.
She added it was a great thing that people from the film fraternity have also spoken strongly against the CAA and the NRC.
