Malerkotla in Punjab has now become the heart of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Women, students, farmers and Sikh activists have come together to express their displeasure over the contentious Act.

A small town in Punjab’s Sangrur district, Malerkotla has come alive in the anti-CAA-NPR-NRC, with the women expressing solidarity with their sisters at Shaheen Bagh.

The women of Malerkotla, dressed in yellow to symbolize oneness, had led a march last week too, under the aegis of several Left organizations, reported The Tribune. At the march, Sukhdev Kokri, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) said that the Centre was diverting the attention of the people from real issues like excesses on women, rampant unemployment, soaring inflation, farmer suicides and the disastrous state of the economy by engaging in communal diatribes.

Massive protest against #CAA_NRC_NPR by women farmers at Malerkotla, Punjab, a large number of Muslim women too participated. Call for even bigger protest on Feb 16 @_YogendraYadav @RanaAyyub @ReallySwara @anuragkashyap72 @Shehla_Rashid @UmarKhalidJNU @devikasmittal @ProfChaman pic.twitter.com/wYf1uhI1fY

— Neel Kamal (@NeelkamalTOI) February 1, 2020

Malerkotla has been blessed – it has witnessed no communal riots, no border crossing, even at the time when Punjab had become a killing field during the `1980s, Malerkotla remained as calm as ever. Malerkotla is the land where Guru Nanak’s enlightenment came in the form of “Na koi Hindu, Na koi Musalman” (no one is Hindu, no one is Muslim) and where “Kudrat ke sab bande” reverberates upto this day, writes journalist Vijaya Pushkarna who has covered the hotspots of Punjab. She says then it is natural that the slogan of the protesting women is, “Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai… saare kirti bhai bhai”.

Pushkarna goes to explain why the scrapping of the CAA is crucial for the families of Malerkotla. She says, “Time and again, I have heard the women of Malerkotla tell me that they are never able to attend weddings and funerals in their family across the border, because they cannot get a visa. They miss their relatives at their own events in Punjab this side.”

“When these families look for a bride or a groom it is the traditional, conservative way. A Punjabi-speaking Muslim. They are either in Malerkotla or in Punjab across the border. And the visa-obstruction notwithstanding, they agree to an alliance in or around Lahore, to remove the homesickness of a sister or a brother already married across the border,” she adds.

She says that for the Punjabi Muslims of Malerkotla, a Muslim match from Aligarh or Nagapatnam or Hyderbad won’t do. For many, it is a distance marriage, absentee parenthood. The CAA 2019 takes away the little hope of reunion that they had. 

Under the banner of the Punjab Students’ Union (PSU), students of the Government College and ITI Malerkotla have also joined the women in their protest, reported the Hindustan Times. Sukhdeep Hathan, district of the PSU said, “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to make India a Hindu nation under its fascist policies and is targeting educational institutes and minorities across country. However, we will not tolerate such policies in a democratic nation.”

Farmer unions and other organizations from across the state have decided to hold a massive gathering in Malerkotla against the CAA-NPR-NRC in Malerkotla on February 16. Amolak Singh, Convenor of the Punjab Lok Sabhyacharak Manch says that they have planned to perform street plays and musical performances in the villages to raise awareness about the issue and invite people to join the mega protest on February 16.

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