Mumbai: Citizens have compared the Aarey movement to the global campaign started by 16-year-old Swede Greta Thunberg, with several students continuing to participate in protests against the car shed in Aarey since last five consecutive Sundays.
Many took to social media to lash out at an RSS-affiliated NGO Legal Rights Observatory’s (LRO) complaint that Roman Catholic-run schools are being forced to stand in Aarey protests. A huge crowd gathered at Aarey on Sunday including students and tribals where they raised placards requesting to save the green lung despite section 144 being imposed on them.
Taking a dig at the LRO’s complaint, AAP member Preeti Sharma Menon tweeted, “Going by this, if Greta Thunberg were to lead a protest to #SaveAareyForest and prevent #ClimateChange, @Dev_Fadnavis would have her arrested. (sic)”
Another Twitter handle, Nirali, read, “@KanoongoPriyank @HRDMinistry Don’t take away the rights of children to protest. Kids protesting to #SaveAareyForest were peacefully demanding to save their green lungs which is their basic right. There was no hatred, foul lingo or any offensive behaviour. (sic)”
Several youngsters formed two long human chains and displayed placards depicting wildlife and greenery of Aarey during the protest. “I was the only one from my college to protest against the car shed as I genuinely care for Aarey. The protests are happening since few weeks,” said 19-year-old Minakshi Shinde.
Anand Pendharkar, Founder of NGO Sprouts Environment Trust said that he had received hundreds of postcards to be sent to the chief minister regarding the same issue. “Parents too are coming with their kids to protest. Today 10 and 12-year-old children are sensitive towards the environment and they are coming forward to to save natural resources. This shows that education is not only limited to classrooms,” he said.
The police interrupted the tribals from 27 settlements of Aarey for a short time by saying that section 144 has been imposed at the site. “Aarey is our home. We told the police that they should not drive us away from our home. After seeing that many people were peacefully protesting, they didn’t stop us,” said a tribal.
