AURANGABAD: Nearly a lakh people participated in a rally outside the Aurangabad district collectorate to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Following the mammoth turnout in Aurangabad, the city police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the IPC for 72 days beginning Saturday.
Assembly of four or more people without prior permission from the police will be banned from December 21 to February 18 in the city limits.
The notification cites intelligence inputs indicating the possibility of anti-social elements or terrorists carrying out activities impacting peace and communal harmony in the city.
At the rally, participants raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, while blaming them for posing a threat to the social fabric and communal harmony of the country.
Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel along with Jamiat-E-Ulma-E-Hind were at the forefront of the agitation that ended peacefully in the evening.
Aurangabad police commissioner Chiranjeev Prasad expressed gratitude to the citizens for ensuring peaceful agitation. Considering the possible friction between the agitators and the police, only a handful of senior police officers were deployed at the venue, while a majority of the force was kept at a distance.
A senior police officer said, “About one lakh people participated in the protest march.”
This number contradicted the city police’s estimation of about 10,000 participants. Around 800 policemen were deployed at strategic points to keep a watch on the agitators.