Rangolis against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens exercise were drawn in front of several houses across Tamil Nadu on Monday. Some even came up outside the homes of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi, party chief MK Stalin and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi in Chennai.
This came a day after the police detained five women for drawing rangolis with slogans against the amended citizenship law and NRC in Besant Nagar. Cases were registered against them and they were released later. The police action led to several people across Tamil Nadu drawing similar rangolis as a form of protest.
Similar rangolis were drawn outside the homes of many people across the state. Here are some images:
The slogan “We don’t want CAA, NRC” on two rangoli designs was painted outside Kanimozhi’s house in CIT Colony on Sunday night because of rain, according to The NewsMinute. Rangolis, or kolams, are otherwise drawn with rice or lime stone powder.
Similar rangolis were drawn outside the house of MK Stalin in Cenotaph road and M Karunanidhi’s house in Gopalapuram. Stalin shared the photos of the rangolis with the tweet: “at our homes”.
Stalin and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko criticised the Chennai police for detaining women on Sunday. “This is clear example that the authoritarianism of the despicable AIADMK is increasing day by day,” Stalin said in a tweet. He said the detention of the women was against their right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the fundamental rights of the Constitution. He also demanded that the case registered against them be withdrawn.
Vaiko said that if the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government thought that it could suppress the anger of the people through police action, then it would learn a lesson from history.
The Citizenship Amendment Act has triggered protests across the country after it was passed in Parliament on December 11. The legislation provides Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The law has attracted widespread criticism as it excludes the Muslim community from its purview.
The National Register of Citizens is a proposed nationwide exercise to identify undocumented migrants.
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