As the country celebrates the 71st anniversary of its Constitution coming into effect, 70 lakh people in Kerala formed a human chain to protest against the fascist BJP government’s attempts to fundamentally destroy the Constitution.
Organised by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, the protest demanded the withdrawal of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). It stretched across the entire state of Kerala, from Kasaragod in the north to the southernmost tip in Kaliyakkavila, near Coimbatore.
As the country celebrates the 71st anniversary of its Constitution coming into effect, 70 lakh people in Kerala formed a human chain to protest against the fascist BJP government’s attempts to fundamentally destroy the Constitution.
The state-wide human chain was formed by 4 pm. The Preamble to the Constitution was read out at 250 points across the chain, following which an oath was taken to protect the Constitution from the Central Government’s attempts to destroy it. The public of Kerala started impromptu chants of Azadi and other protest slogans at various points of the chain.
In some parts of the chain, especially in places where the CPI-M have a stronghold, the turnout was so high that a human wall of sorts, with numerous rows, had to be formed. Couples were seen joining the chain right out of their wedding ceremonies.
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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan joined the protest in Trivandrum, while Senior CPI(M) leader S Ramachandran Pillai started off the chain in Kasaragod and M. A. Baby was part of the final link in Kaliyakkavila.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan joined the protest in Trivandrum, while Senior CPI(M) leader S Ramachandran Pillai started off the chain in Kasaragod and M. A. Baby was part of the final link in Kaliyakkavila.
Urging the public to not stop protesting, the Chief Minister of Kerala said, “It’s not yet time to rest. The citizenship law will endanger the Constitution and destroy peace in the country since their (the BJP’s) intention is to destroy secularism. We have already declared that Kerala is not the place to accept the new citizenship regime. But we need to make our contribution to the nationwide protest until this citizenship law is withdrawn.”
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Kerala has a wide history of employing this unique form of protest, including in protest of the 2009 ASEAN deal, the 2016 demonetisation and the Sabarimala issue in 2019. Notably, an 11 km human chain against the CAA-NRC-NPR was formed yesterday in Kolkata as well.
