Shaheen protesters march towards Shah's house, return

New Delhi: Hundreds of women protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act at Shaheen Bagh have stopped their march to Union home minister Amit Shah's house midway after being assured of a proper appointment with him.

The women had started the march around 2 pm, hoping for a dialogue with Shah on the citizenship law. They did not have an appointment or the permission for a protest march from the police.

The police said they stopped the march and went back to their sit-in protest after they were told that their application for a meeting has been sent to the Home Minister. The women said that they would not give up their protest or allow it to become violent or disorderly, according to NDTV.

The police turned down their application to hold a protest march after the women refused to send a delegation to meet the Home Minister.

The protesting women decided to talk to Shah after his open invitation at the Times Now Summit on Thursday. Anyone with doubts over the CAA could seek an appointment from his office and he would be willing to meet them within the next three days, he had said.

Ruling out a rethink on decisions on CAA and Article 370, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that his government remains and will remain firm on the steps, which have been taken in the national interest, despite pressure from all sides.

"Be it the scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir or the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the country waited for decisions on these for years," he told a public meeting in Varanasi during a day-long visit to his Lok Sabha constituency.

"These decisions were necessary in the interest of the nation. Duniya bhar ke saarey dabaon ke bawjood, inn faislon par hum qayam hain, qayam rahengey (Despite pressure from all sides, we remain firm on the decisions and will continue to remain firm," Modi said.

Provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special powers to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, were abrogated by the government in August last year.