"We, the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic…to secure to all its citizens…justice…liberty, equality…fraternity…” Senior counsel Navroz Seervai (pictured) and 50 assembled
lawyers including senior jurists Mihir Desai and Gayatri Singh recited the preamble to the Indian Constitution in a gathering outside Bombay High Court, reported mid-day on January 21, 2020. The group was protesting against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) that became law on December 12, 2019. The newspaper stated that the lawyers said that "the fact that CAA provides citizenship to refugees belonging to six religious communities (including Parsis, from certain neighboring countries) — but not Muslims is ‘constitutionally wrong.’” No one can divide the country on the basis of religion, they stated.
"We read the preamble to reaffirm our faith in the Constitution of India and in its sovereign, secular and democratic nature and as a means to protest against some action taken across the country against people, which is against the Constitution,” Seervai told reporters, noted ndtv.com on January 20. The group of lawyers urged advocates across Bombay to gather and read the preamble in their respective courts, noted livelaw.in
Protests have been ongoing in different parts of the country against the law which grants Indian citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jain refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The film fraternity, including Farhan Akhtar, Sushant Singh Rajput and Javed Jaffrey participated in a public protest against CAA on December 19, 2019 at Bombay’s Gowalia Tank (August Kranti Maidan), noted news reports.