'We All Belong Here': Mumbai For Peace March Hopes to Reclaim Spaces and Resist Increasing Hatred
Mumbai: Around 500 citizens took to the streets of Mumbai on Sunday (June 1) in a peaceful rally organised by grassroots civil society group Mumbai for Peace. Marching from Kotwali Garden to Chaityabhoomi in Dadar, the participants called for harmony, inclusion, and environmental justice amid what they described as growing hatred and intolerance across the country.
According to a press statement released by "Mumbai for Peace", it was composed of “concerned citizens and citizens groups, workers, students, women’s organisations, Mumbai-based activists”.
The march was held to call for peace as a resistance to “increasing hate and intolerance all around”. The statement further read, “Invoking the cosmopolitan and accepting spirit of Mumbai, the rally was held to reassert the commitment of the citizens to the Indian constitution in its 75th year and its values of equality, non discrimination, dignity, secularism, and unity.”
Symbolic Location
The location of the march was also significant, since Dadar is considered the nerve centre of Ethno-Nationalist Hindutva politics in Mumbai and it also houses Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s resting place- Chaityabhoomi.
Activist and educator Chayanika Shah, who attended the march, said in an instagram post, “In the same neighbourhood where a small group of hate mongers walked saying to some people that they did not belong, a large crowd of hundreds gathered to say "we all belong"! That we stand for inclusion, for love, for friendship, for respect - what else but PRIDE.”
In an attempt to reclaim the common spaces of the city by the common people, and resist increasing hatred through love, slogans like “hum sab ek hain”, “Mumbaikars ek hain”, “pyaar mohabbat zindabad”, “Mumbai ki ekta zindabad” were raised.
Environmental advocacy
Mumbai has been facing an existential threat to its marine and ecological diversity. The group also focused upon talking about saving the sea and forest ecology of the city.
Especially considering 5th June is the world environment day, “slogans to save the environment and protect the beautiful sea and forest that have provided life to Mumbaikars” were also raised.
Participants taking out the Mumbai for Peace March on June 1. Photo: Instagram/@mumbai4peace
Adivasi activists from Aarey Colony (a buffer zone between the city and Sanjay Gandhi National Park and is one of the last green forest spaces left in Mumbai) who have been fighting against forest encroachment and continuing the save Aarey movement also joined the rally.
Eminent Mumbaikars in attendance
The rally was also attended and addressed by eminent Mumbai citizens like poet Pradnya Daya Pawar, activists Tushar Gandhi and Shakir Shaikh, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, educator Fr Frazer Mascerenhas, writers Urmila Pawar and Madhu Mohite, feminist activist Hasina Khan, amongst others.
The march ended with a symbolic collective reading and pledge of the Preamble of the Constitution in Hindi and Marathi, thus reinforcing the belief in the values of the constitution.
This article went live on June fourth, two thousand twenty five, at zero minutes past one in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
