More Shaheen Baghs coming up across country: Nandita Das

Lauding the efforts of students and common people who have been protesting against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), actor Nandita Das said on Thursday that more places like Shaheen Bagh are coming up across the country.

Das also exhorted people to speak up against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"They (government) are asking those who have been living here for four generations to prove that they are Indians. This is very sad. I think everyone should speak up," she said on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).

The actor said the protests against the CAA and the NRC are "spontaneous" and no political parties are involved in them.

"These are led by students and common people. The youth has created a hope in the country. Every other place is becoming a Shaheen Bagh now, and I think as human beings, we should speak up against these laws," Das said.

She emphasised that with the economic slowdown, growing unemployment rate, and now with the CAA and the NRC, the country has become a topic of discussion across the world as "people are being divided on the basis of religion".

"We haven't seen this kind of unemployment in possibly 50 years. The economy is going down. International newspapers are writing about what's happening. This is the first time that we are being divided on religious lines.

"Our Constitution has given us the right to equality. You may belong to any caste, gender or religion but you are equal under the Constitution. And if you believe in that equality, you wouldn't want to see any sort of segregation," Das said.

She added it was a great thing that people from the film fraternity have also spoken strongly against the CAA and the NRC.