100 Days Of Resistance: A Musical Salaam to Shaheen Bagh’s Women

The Shaheen Bagh protest has ended, but its spirit will live on.

Artist Poojan Sahil pays tribute to women protesters of Shaheen Bagh through a song.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas

100 days. That’s how long the women of Shaheen Bagh protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in a sit-in protest. Until it was cleared by the Delhi police on 24 March 2020, as Delhi went into a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

In those hundred days, the protest at Shaheen Bagh echoed throughout the country, and inspired many similar sit-in style protests – in Gaya, Kolkata, Prayagraj, Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

From reading the Constitution’s Preamble to singing patriotic songs, speeches, music performances; people of all religions praying together to writing postcards to the PM; the art installations, and the flag hoisting on 71st Republic Day – Shaheen Bagh celebrated it all. But the protest also faced hostility, with violent threats, allegations of being paid to protest, being labelled “anti-national” and facing hostility from Delhi residents because of traffic issues.

To pay tribute to the women of Shaheen Bagh, Poojan Sahil – a math teacher by profession – has performed a musical rendition of Sahir Ludhianvi’s “Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi.” Give it a listen!

(You can follow Poojan Sahil’s music here.)