At Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, anti-CAA protesters ring in new year with national anthem

The youth skipped parties and the elderly shun the comfort of watching TV at home on the New Year's eve as thousands of people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rang in 2020 with singing the national anthem at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh.

Many people roamed around the venue and thronged kiosks for chai to bear with the winter chill, while many more stayed put under the tarpaulin shed listening to speakers taking the stage one by one.

Several roamed around waving national flags while others displayed creative placards against the new law and chanted "Aazadi, Aazadi".

As the clock struck 12, the protesting crowd burst into a cheer to greet the fellow protesters the new year, and moments later broke into the national anthem in unison which was followed by the slogan "Inquilab Zindabad".

Amid the thousands was a group of young working professionals who had come in from various parts of Delhi, skipping party invitations to usher in 2020.

"Of course, I would have been celebrating all through the new year's eve had the situation been normal," a 30-year-old man, who works in a private firm, told PTI.

Asked for his name, the man requested anonymity and added, "I don't want me being here to be identified with any religion. It's for a bigger cause, it's to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens."