"NRC, you echo Islamophobia," screamed a bearded young man standing in front of the Reserve Bank of India building in Kochi. Hundreds of students facing him repeated his words, loud and clear. They were a bunch of students and young people from in and around Kerala, who had marched from Rajendra Maidan to RBI, protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.
Hundreds of students from 40 colleges and universities all over Kerala conducted a long march and sit down protest on December 18 from 2.30 pm to 5 pm. They also expressed solidarity to the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Representatives from Pondicherry University and Delhi University were present in the march, which was conducted by a collective called Students' Unity of Ernakulam.
"We literally got it all organised in a day. We never thought that so many people will turn up," says Sahla Kadambodan, a student of Ernakulam Law College. "This was not a call by any political party. We're just a group of young people who are against CAA and NRC. As students who study the law and constitution, we cannot let an act like this ruin our country," she says. Sahla adds that the students will organise similar calls and events in the coming days in Kochi. "We will also organise awareness events to educate people about the act," she says.
The protest was inaugurated by Malayalam filmmaker Khalid Rahman, who burned a copy of the Act in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
