No rights and a lot of wrongs

The Bombay Catholic Sabha BCS along with the St Theresa Sabha unit held a meet on Saturday night at the St Theresas hall in Bandra West The meet was titled Understanding Citizenship Amendment Act CAA National Population Register NPR and National Register of Citizens NRCThe first speaker Fr Frazer Mascarenhas told his audience I will not speak about CAA but Christian spirituality Fr Mascarenhas went on Prayer is powerful but it must be backed by action Today Catholics have become content with being quiet and simply praying about things We must take action for justice and motivated by compassion and love Democracy has to be worked at You must allow us to dissent Our religious duty is to make the country and the world a more just placeNo documentsSenior advocate Mihir Desai part of the speakers panel gave a background of the different acts and said that there are large sections of people who do not have any documents or proof These are many women abandoned children the homeless If one is unable to prove ones citizenship then you will be put in detention camps Desai claimed this CAANPRNRC was an exercise in futility and divisiveness it is aimed at marginalising creating fear and should be stopped We have laws for migrants and those should be used The government is bringing in a HinduMuslim divide with this he stressedNo rightsTeesta Setalvad activist explained that when your citizenship is taken away then you lose the right to have rights Setalvad said With this exercise NCPNCR what is most disturbing is that there is an onus on the individual to prove that they are citizens They are the ones who have to furnish documents Setalvad claimed crores are being spent in this exercise but what are we unleashing on ourselvesTelling the primarily Christian audience that they too were the enemies of this regime but have made it out because of Donald Trump Setalvad went on One way civil society can make itself more effective is to talk to your elected representatives Maharashtra is going to implement the NPR from May this is arbitrary and dangerous as it empowers a lower level government officer to declare you a doubtful citizenMihir Desai at the meetIn the end Setalvad rounded off with with Mumbai Bagh modelled on Shaheen Bagh Muslim women are breaking the back of patriarchy earning a round of applauseFence sittersAs late evening turned to night last speaker Bombay Catholic Sabhas Dolphy DSouza began by saying We are almost turning into a police state and we must not allow this to happen It is also condemnable to dub those who protest who stand for the truth as antinationals DSouza exhorted the women in the audience to visit the places where so many women are protesting We must stand in solidarity with them as they are sticking their necks out for us DSouza earned a laugh as he said while telling the audience to take a stand those who sit on the fence will have their pants tornHigh dramaThere was high drama in the interactive session While most speakers were against the CAA and concurred with the BJP governmentbashing a woman who said she was an advocate S Collaco took the mike and dissentedThe Assam problem did begin with Muslim migration she told the hall and added is it possible that one cannot have any documents at all She also asked people why not support this government and give them a chance This led to an agitated Aftab Siddiqui Bandra activist in the audience to shout back who are these illegal Muslim migrants How many are there Do you have the figures You must know the figures If you have a voice even I have one The organisers rushed to Siddiqui to restore calm and then replied to Collacos claims categorically refuting them as the meet endedCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates