Every other place in India is becoming Shaheen Bagh now: Nandita Das on CAA-NRC protests

Bollywood filmmaker Nandita Das lauded the students and common people, stating they created hope in the country. She spoke about Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) during her recent visit to Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).

She feels that every other place is becoming Shaheen Bagh now. Stating that the protests are 'spontaneous' and no political parties are involved in them, Nandita Das said, “These (protests) are led by students and common people. The youth has created 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.”

“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 added.

Talking about the economic slowdown, growing unemployment rate, followed by CAA-NRC, Nandita Das also said that India has become a topic of discussion around the world because 'people are being divided on the basis of religion'.

She quipped, “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,” concluding by saying, “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.”