Among the huge number of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters at Delhi Gate on Friday, a US national stood out for his support to an agitation in a foreign country and his ability to speak in Hindi and Urdu.
Speaking fluently albeit in heavily accented Hindi and Urdu, Arnold (name changed on request) claimed that he opposed "majoritarianism" back home in the US and everywhere else in the world.
"The US is under a majoritarian regime. I am fully opposed to it. The current regime in my country is very bad for students. Same thing is happening here," Arnold claimed.
A frequent visitor to India, Arnold first came eight years ago to study Hindi and Urdu in a university in Uttar Pradesh.
Asked as to why he was standing with the protesters, he said "If students are beaten up with lathis and attacked with tear-gas shells, in universities and libraries, and minorities feel being under attack by a majoritarian regime, it's a matter of concern for everybody."
He claimed there was "a lot of solidarity" in the US for Indian students and minorities opposing the new citizenship law.
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"Religion as a criterion for determining citizenship is fundamentally wrong," said Arnold, aged around 40.
Arnold, a college teacher, is currently writing a book on Dalit issues in Uttar Pradesh.
"Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai," he signed off with a line of revolutionary poet Ram Prasad Bismil.
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