Mumbai – 5,000 turn up in Dadar to protest lynching of Muslims and Dalits #NotInMyName

MUMBAI: Five days after thousands braved the rain to protest mob lynchings at Carter Road in Bandra under the “Not In My Name” campaign, around 5,000 members from over a dozen organizations took out a morcha against the rise in cases of lynching by gau rakshaks on Monday.

Called Nafrat Ke Khilaf Insaniyat Ki Awaaz (Humanity Against Hatred), the procession which began from Kotwal Garden and ended at Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar saw protesters stridently raising slogans like “Don’t kill in the name of cows”. The activists said they were calling the conscience of the nation to end the culture of hatred.

Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar was among those who led the march. The activists added that they were against all kinds of mob violence. “It is not just Muslims who are being targeted by gau rakshaks. Even Dalits and whoever else oppose the government’s policies are being targeted,” said documentary filmmaker-activist Anand Patwardhan.

Amid sloganeering, recitations of revolutionary poems, repeated invoking of patriots like Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi, activists called it a show of solidarity. “I am glad so many non-Muslims have joined hands against increasing lynchings of members of the Muslim community,” said activist Salim Alware.

“Mob lynchings will not stop unless the Centre and state governments disallow gau rakshak groups who have been given IDs to help the police enforce beef laws. These cow vigilantes work as mobs to harass minorities and Dalits,” said M A Khalid of All India Milli Council.

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