Sometimes, it doesn't matter if your body is up to it. It only matters how much you're willing to stand for something you believe in. That's exactly why over a hundred members of Kochi's differently-abled community hit the streets and joined the protest against the CAA and NRC at Marine Drive on Tuesday for over four hours.
That was where we met Ameer Suhail, a 21-year-old VFX student. Ameer who is wheelchair-bound, didn't stop to think about how difficult it would be for him to make it to the protest – let alone physically protest. All he knew was that he needs to be there. "I have been isolated a lot in my life because I'm born in a certain way," he says. "Implementation of the CAA and NRC will make sure that a lot more people in our society will be isolated and I do not want that. I know how painful that is," he adds.
Ameer had come for the protest with his father, who stayed with him throughout the protest. "I went through a lot to get here. But if we do not protest the CAA and NRC, we will definitely have to bear the brunt of it," he says. He also tells why he's opposing the CAA and NRC. "I have read a lot of notes, news stories and reviews of these. They will destroy the Constitution. I'm against it. It's not possible for everyone to get documents that are 50 years old," he says.
