There is an atmosphere of confrontation in the country over the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 and National Register of Citizens (NRC) as the BJP led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seemingly in no mood to relent on the protesters demand to change or scrap the law that seeks to redefine an Indian citizen.
Statement of Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that the Modi government is “ready to communicate with Shaheen Bagh protesters to clear all their doubts over the CAA” is an indication of the central government’s firmness on the issue.
Even as the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) appears to be confident that the ongoing protests across the country that have come to be symbolized with Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, where protesters consisting of largely Muslim women who are being supported by young and old of other denominations since December 15, are going to help in broadening its constituency and appeal among Hindus. Particularly, spirit, determination and vision of agitating protesters to fight the ideological battle through the instruments of Constitution, national flag and heroes such as Mahatma Gandhi is worth taking note off.
Provocation from a rightwing outfit on Sunday, February 2, at Shaheen Bagh holding a pro-CAA demonstration and asking the police to evacuate the anti-CAA protesters has not demoralised the agitators. The pro-CAA protests by members of the Hindu Sena came a day after a 25- year old man, Kapil Gujjar, had fired shots at Shaheen Bagh chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and saying ‘Hamare Desh men aur kisi ki nahin chalegi, sirf Hindu ki chalegi (Only Hindus shall have a say in our country, no one else), resulting in panic in the area.
Earlier in an incident on January 30 on Gandhi’s Martyrdom Day, a 17-year old youth, Rambhakt Gopal, had fired with his pistol at Delhi’s Jamia Islamia university injuring a student. Firing with his country made pistol, he had yelled “yeh lo azadi’ (here is your freedom) and ‘Delhi Police zindabad’ (long live Delhi Police). Gopal had also gone live on his Facebook page moments before he fired at peaceful protesters. There is a series of Facebook Lives by him on his Facebook page where his anger for the Shaheen Bagh protest is now well documented.
On Saturday, another right-wing group-Dev Sena-had given a call to hold pro-CAA protests and had promised to get the Shahenn Bagh cleared from anti-CAA agitators. But they had later released a press statement stating that they were withdrawing the call due to appeals of Delhi Police for peace.
Above mentioned incidents happened after couple of BJP leaders, including Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, made provocative statements declaring anti-CAA protesters as ‘Gaddaron (traitors)’ who should be shot (goli maro saron ko). Another Delhi Lok Sabha MP Pravesh Verma on January 28 had raised the specter of Shaheen Bagh’s anti-CAA protesters in their lakhs entering homes to rape and kill women, provoking an outrage.
Even though the Election Commission took note of the provocations of the BJP leaders taking them out of the star campaigners list, yet other leaders like UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath continued with their offensive against the protesters, The UP CM, addressing election meeting to campaign for the BJP, also advocated use of force sanctioning use of bullet.
Very fact that despite a series of provocations, protesters at Shaheen Bagh and elsewhere in the national capital have refused to react maintaining their peaceful and democratic determination to continue with their conviction of the perceived anti-national dimension of the CAA and the NRC require a deep study. It indicates a change, as a closer look at the countrywide protests suggest that there is a relatively larger representation of Muslim youth and women in the ongoing agitation.
For the first time in country’s over seven decade long independent existence, there is a convergence of interests between Muslims and that section of Hindus who, because of their belief in values like secularism and faith in the constitutional democracy along with the rule of law, were being pushed to the margins by the RSS vision of India.
Though the BJP and the RSS with all the power at its command is trying to convince the gullible population of the country that the anti-CAA protests are the handiwork of the opposition parties, yet there seems to be no concrete proof of the Modi government’s claim.
Arrest of JNU student Sharjeel Imam from Bihar and then booking him under charges of ‘sedition’ for allegedly making inflammatory speeches against the CAA and NRC at the Aligarh Muslim University is just one small evidence of the BJP government’s assertion of a conspiracy that has been hatched against the country. However, these charges are yet to be proved in a court of law.
Even the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has allegedly found some ’financial link’ between the anti-CAA protests and the Kerala based outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) that is being probed since 2018 under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED has claimed that at least Rs 120 crore were deposited in some bank accounts in western Uttar Pradesh after the act was passed by parliament late last year. It is being suspected and alleged that this amount was being used by PFI officials to fuel anti-CAA protests.
All these charges which are yet only claims and allegations need to stand in a court of law and record of government agencies in this regard has not been very outstanding so treating the ongoing protests with suspicion will be a gross injustice to those who have raised their voice against an act that they believe hits at the very idea of India.
Battle between the government and the anti-CAA forces is long, and its fate would only be decided by the people at coming assembly elections and finally by the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for 2024.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Satish Misra was Senior Fellow at ORF. He has been a journalist for many years. He has a PhD in International Affairs from Humboldt University ...
Read More +
PREV
