People were urged to launch a ‘civil disobedience movement’ against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, NPR and NCR at a huge rally organised by The Muslim Central Committee at the Shah Maidan in Adyar on Wednesday.

Activist Harsh Mander reminded that Mahatma Gandhi launched the non-violent civil disobedience movement and broke the law by making salt. “We will not recognise the CAA as an expression of solidarity. I urge Hindus and Christians to declare themselves as Muslims and court arrest. Our passion for the country and the Constitution should remain strong even at the detention centre for illegal immigrants,” he said.

“Muslims in India are Indians ‘by choice’ and not like other religions, who are Indians ‘by chance’. The Centre has stripped Kashmir of its special status, ensured the construction of Ram Mandir and now moved on to building a Hindu Rashtra. Nearly 100 years ago, it was asserted that Hindustan was not for one community. Former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had declared that those born in India were Indians,” he said.

His assertion, ‘Yeh Sabka Hindustan’, drew loud cheers from the crowd. Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinath said that saving the Constitution and secularism was not only Muslims’ but everyone’s responsibility. He urged the citizens to boycott CAA and NPR.

Human rights activist Shivasundar said the police in states with BJP governments were taking orders directly from the ‘Republic of Kalladka’ and ‘Republic of Nagpur’ - the RSS headquarters.

He said, “RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat should stop pursuing the dream of building a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ as Dr Ambedkar had declared that there can be no bigger catastrophe. The concept of ‘Hindu Rashtra’ is anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit, and anti-woman. In Assam, which has about three crore population, 19 lakh in Assam were declared ‘illegal immigrants’. Over seven lakh crore people in India would be branded as foreigners.”

Advocate Sudheer Kumar Maroli urged the organisers to take the campaign to villages.

The dais for the function was named after Abdul Jaleel Khandak and Nauseen Kudroli, who died in the police firing. People who could not make it to the maidan were seen sitting atop buildings, tanks and skywalks.

A 100-metre-long tricolour was the cynosure of attention. The crowd at Shah Maidan dispersed peacefully.