Source:

Edited By:

Last updated on: February 15, 2020 20:22 IST

A section of Shaheen Bagh protesters on Saturday said they were ready to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah to raise their concerns over the new citizenship law but added that the onus was on the government to call them for talks.

The protesters, mainly women, have been staging a sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) for the past two months.

They said the protest was 'leaderless' and it was up to the home minister to decide who all he wanted to call for talks.

An announcement in this regard was also made by a speaker from the dais.

"We are ready to meet the home minister. But he should make it clear how many people he wants to meet," Syed Ahmed Taseer, one of the organisers, said.

Mehrunnisa, who has been a regular at the protest, said the protesters would march to the home minister's residence on Sunday.

"We would ask him to withdraw CAA-NRC-NPR," she said, adding that the protest would continue till their demand was met.

In an interaction with a news channel earlier this week, Shah said anyone who wants to discuss issues related to CAA with him can seek time from his office.

"(We) will give time within three days," he added.

Speaking with mediapersons on Saturday, a group of protesters claimed that they would be going to meet the home minister and everyone of them would meet him personally instead of taking a delegation.

The protesters called a press conference and told the reporters that no delegation would visit the home minister, rather each and every demonstrator along with the people who have problem with the newly amended citizenship Act, would go and meet him at 2 pm on Sunday.

"Amit Shah has himself invited everyone on television to meet him, so we are going to meet him on Sunday.

"Shah himself said that whoever is facing problem due to CAA should meet him," said one of the protesters who did not wish to be named.

"Everyone will go and meet Home Minister Amit Shah at 2 pm tomorrow. It's a request that all the citizens including men and women who are facing problems due to CAA, NRC and NPR have to go and meet Amit Shah and PM Modi ji," said an elderly woman.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday said that no meeting has been scheduled between the home minister and the protesters.

'No such meeting is scheduled with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah for tomorrow,' said the MHA in a statement.

-- with ANI inputs