#NotInMyName protest intensifies, political parties join movement

A Not In My Name protest held at Mumbra

The lynching and murder of 16-year-old Junaid Khan in Ballabhgarh has led a nation-wide uprising. The citizen's movement, known as #NotInMyName was started in Mumbai with industry heavy-weights like Shabana Azmi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Nandita Das taking front stage.

It now seems that the nation has decided to join the movement, with the ‘NotInMyName' protest is being held in over 10 cities across the country. In a report by the Indian Express the recent most silent protest took place in Veer Kotwal Udyan in Dadar West a little after 4 pm on Monday. The event was largely a silent protest with the protestors walking silently with large sign boards, some of them even had their mouths taped shut. What made this protest unique was the fact that several political organizations such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, Students' Federation of India, All India Democratic Women's Association, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Democratic Youth Federation of India, All India Students Federation, Students Islamic Organisation of India, and the Aam Aadmi Party came together. The protest was aimed at drawing attention to towards the cow-related violence and the government's apathy towards the incident. The protestors were also joined by Sarva Shramik Sangh, Bharatiya Mahila Federation, All India Trade Union Congress, Indian Muslims For Secular Democracy, Forum Against Oppression of Women, and several grass-root organisations

The protesters also shouted the slogan, "Nafrat ke khilaaf, insaniyat ki awaaz (Against hatred, we cry out for humanity)" as they walked from Tilak Road to Chaityabhoomi. The earlier protest held at Bandra and Carter road was criticized for being a stage to highlight middle-class outrage, where political parties were dissuaded from joining in. In this protest not only were there several political figures, but many from the Bandra-Carter Road protests were also seen to be in attendance.
Filmmakers Anand Patwar-dhan, Nishtha Jain, Dibakar Banerjee and Surabhi Jain were present along with Flavia Agnes and Dr Ambedkar's grandson and leader of the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, Prakash Ambedkar. A student from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Colaba, said, "The two protests are somewhat different. The Carter Road protest has been criticised but it did mobilise all those in solidarity with the victims. There is a wider group today but both events are necessary. Hopefully, the shortcomings of the Bandra event can be remedied today."

While the exact number of people at the protest is not know, it is believed that thousands of people joined the movement. Moreover, clear skies helped see that the protest was successfully completed