Mumbai: Fans at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday were seen wearing t-shirts with messages protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) among others as the current political environment in the country seeped into the stands during the first ODI between India and Australia.
Images were doing the rounds on social media during the match of fans wearing the shirts that had individual alphabets on them which read together said: “No NRC, NPR & CAA.” Videos later emerged of what were reportedly private security guards in the stadium speaking to the fans.
Others alleged that the guards did not allow fans to wear garments that are black in colour. Journalist Rahul Desai tweeted: “I’m at the Wankhede Stadium today. The colour Black is being banned (t-shirts, caps, anything) because it’s a “symbol of protest, (sic).” Several spectators were reportedly forced to change their shirts or caps which were then confiscated at the gate.
The passing of the contentious CAA, which was notified on January 10, has been met with protests around the country. The law grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees in India from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014 on grounds of religious persecution in their home countries.
