Spontaneous protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed country-wide National Register of Citizens have erupted in several towns across Bihar where people seem to be drawing inspiration from the month-old sit-in by women of Shaheen Bagh in the national capital.
In Sabzibagh locality here, inhabited by a large number of Muslims which also receives a diverse, floating population because of its proximity to the Patna University campus, a 24X7 demonstration has been underway since January 12.
Young men and women keep the protest aflame by taking turns to sit at the "dharna" spot and ensuring that the demonstration remains uninterrupted.
They are taking care to ensure that the dense traffic on the adjoining streets is not interrupted because of the demonstration.
Every passerby, though, is presented with an evocative pamphlet titled "desh toot raha hai, chuppi todiye" (the nation is coming apart, break your silence).
Their enthusiasm soared on Tuesday night when former JNU students union president and CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar made an appearance, gave a fiery speech against the "divisive" legislation and made the crowds sway to his "hum leke rahenge azadi" verses which he rendered to the beats of a tambourine.
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On Wednesday, the venue presented a picture of communal harmony and religious pluralism as a feast of curd and flattened rice (dahi-chura) was held to observe Makar Sankranti with many men and women wearing skull caps and burqas treating themselves to the delicacies.
About 15 kilometers away, another such protest albeit smaller in size began on Tuesday at Haroon Nagar, which has been seething ever since a local youth was abducted while taking part in an anti-CAA bandh called by opposition parties on December 21 and his mutilated body was recovered from a pit covered with hyacinth about a week later.
Repeated assurances from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Amit Shah notwithstanding, a country-wide NRC has become a volatile issue for Bihar where lower rung BJP leaders have been for years alleging that districts adjacent to Bangladesh had a large number of "infiltrators" who needed to be driven out.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is an alliance partner of the BJP, has been at pains to explain that CAA
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