Why Chandrashekhar Azad selected Jama Masjid to protest against CAA, NRC?

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Why Chandrashekhar Azad raised protest against CAA, NRC from the steps of Jama Masjid?

Chandrashekhar Azad on Friday invoked Maulana Azad's this speech delivered at the same venue in 1947

Saturday December 21, 2019 4:32 PM, ummid.com News Network

New Delhi: Thousands of people led by Bhim Army founder, Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, Friday protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) outside the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.

Bhim Army sources said the police was trying to detain Chandrashekhar Azad ever since reports spread through social media that he will lead the ant-CAA and anti-NRC protest from the steps of the Jama Masjid after Friday prayers. But, he somehow managed to dodge them and appeared on the steps of Jama Masjid soon after the Friday prayers.

Surrounded by his party workers, and amidst sloganeering by thousands, the Bhim Army chief read out few related paragraphs from the Indian Constitution, holding a copy in his hand.

But, the question is why Chandrashekhar Azad selected the Jama Masjid as the venue for his protest against the CAA and NRC? His close aides said, he wanted to remind the country in general, and Muslims in particular, of the historic speech Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the front leaders of the Freedom Struggle and India's first Education Minister, had delivered from the steps of Jama Masjid on October 23, 1947 - a few months after India’s Partition.

Read Full | Maulana Azad Jama Masjid Speech

Muslims were scared and were fleeing to the newly established country. But, Maulana Azad reassured them and stopped them from migrating to Pakistan.

"Where are you going and why? Raise your eyes. The minarets of Jama Masjid want to ask you a question. Where have you lost the glorious pages from your chronicles? Wasn't it only yesterday that on the banks of the Jamuna, your caravans performed wazu? Today, you are afraid of living here. Remember, Delhi has been nurtured with your blood. Brothers, create a basic change in yourselves. Today, your fear is misplaced as your jubilation was yesterday", Maulana Azad had said in his October 1947 speech from the steps of Jama Masjid.

"Brothers, keep up with the changes. Don’t say, “We are not ready for the change.” Get ready. Stars may have plummeted down but the sun is still shining. Borrow a few of its rays and sprinkle them in the dark caverns of your lives", Maulana Azad, a scholar who was also celebrated for his oratory, said.

"I do not ask you to seek certificates from the new echelons of power. I do not want you to lead a life of sycophancy as you did during the foreign rule. I want you to remind you that these bright etchings which you see all around you, are relics of processions of your forefathers. Do not forget them. Do not forsake them. Live like their worthy inheritors, and, rest assured, that if you do not wish to flee from this scene, nobody can make you flee. Come, today let us pledge that this country is ours, we belong to it and any fundamental decisions about its destiny will remain incomplete without our consent", Maulana Azad said.

Chandrashekhar Azad on Friday invoked Maulana Azad's this speech delivered at the same venue in 1947 and urged the Muslims to fight for their rights like the other citizens of India.

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