Hypocrisy! Thy name is Indian Muslim leadership. This was 9 December 2019, the whole of India watched an aggressive Asaduddin Owaisi, Member of Parliament (MP) from Hyderabad, tearing a copy of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 2019. India Today reported himsaying, "The government is hatching a conspiracy by the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the NRC (National Register of Citizens) to make Muslims stateless. I oppose this Bill as it is against the Constitution and an insult to our freedom fighters."
The bill was later passed and became an act. But, the Indian Muslims took notice of Owaisi. Afterall, Owaisi is himself a lawyer and a responsible political voice. Students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), civil society people and other concerned citizens started organising protests in New Delhi, including at Jantar Mantar.
Within a week the World witnessed one of the most intense public mobilisation of students and youth since 2011 Anna Hazare led India Against the Corruption protests. On 13 December 2019, Ladeeda Farzana, Aysha Renna and Chanda Yadav caught the media attention when their photograph of shouting slogans against CAA-NRC at JMI became viral on social media. Two days later JMI was again in the news where police used force against the students. A few hours later a similar kind of force was used against the protesting students at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
The protest engulfed more regions in New Delhi when on 16 December, Sharjeel Imam, an alumnus of IIT-Bombay and a research scholar at JNU, with the help of Aasif Mujtaba, an AMU alumnus and IIT-Delhi research scholar, started a sit in protest at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi. They blocked a road connecting New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh (UP). This Shaheen Bagh protest site became more famous as women from the area participated in large numbers and the media took notice of this.
On 1st January, 2020, Sharjeel and Aasif called off the Shaheen Bagh protests. They believed that the protestors might be a target of state violence. But, other people would not leave the place and the protest went on.
The Shaheen Bagh became synonymous with the CAA-NRC protests in the country. Everyone from the left-liberal camp or anti-BJP camp seemed to encash upon this protest. People from Congress, Communist Parties, JNU, Aam Aadmi Party and several other organisations either paid a visit to the site Salman Khursheed, Pappu Yadav, Kanhaiya Kumar, Swara Bhaskar, Asif Mohammad Khan and several others addressed people at the protest site.
On 27 January 2020. Police arrested Sharjeel Imam, the instigator of Shaheen Bagh protests. He was charged initially for inflammatory speeches and later on of the Delhi riots, which occurred when he was languishing in jail. Soon, Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider, Devangana Kalita, Khalid Saifi, Natasha Narwal, Asif Iqbal, Tasleem Ahmed, Tahir Hussain, Ishrat Jahan, Gulfishan Fatima, Shifa-ur Rahman, Shadab Ahmed, Safoora Zargar, Saeelm Malik, Saleem Khan, Athar Khan and Faizal Khan were also arrested and charged with UAPA. Police claimed that these people hatched a conspiracy to Delhi Riots in 2020. The case is still subjudice.
It is no rocket science to understand that all these people are in jail for leading protests against CAA-NRC. The first alarm bell against CAA-NRC which actually was heard across the country was by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi. That moment when he tore down the bill in the parliament was defining. Indian Muslims realised that their citizenship is under threat. Though intellectuals, including Sharjeel, were campaigning against the bill much before, it was this act by Owaisi which caught the imagination of the masses.
More than three years later. India is witnessing its first general election since the protests. Several politicians used the stage of CAA-NRC protests for political gains. None of them. Not a single one. No politician who was talking about CAA-NRC in 2019 or 2020 has uttered a single word about CAA-NRC or the political prisoners in jail.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is much more consistent. It is talking about CAA-NRC during its election campaign and has actually implemented the CAA before the elections.
In contrast, Asaduddin Owaisi who tore down the bill seems to have forgotten the issue altogether. If he believes that he was wrong at that time then he should come out honestly and accept that.
Kanhaiya Kumar was a student of JNU when Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and Devangana were also there. He had used the stages of CAA-NRC protests but seems to have forgotten about the political prisoners and the issue completely. Sandeep Saurav, a MLA from Paliganj in Bihar, was also at JNU during the same period. In fact, for a few years, until Sharjeel resigned from AISA, he and Sharjeel were members of the same organisation. He is also silent.
Zia Ur Rahman Barq, a sitting MLA and MP candidate, talked about Ateeq Ahmad, Mukhtar Ansari and Shahabuddin but again the silence about political prisoners is deafening. Akhtarul Iman, a candidate from Kishanganj, claims to be a representative of Muslim politics but it is a non issue for him as well.
As a famous film song goes, “Kis kis ka naam lu main, Mujhe har kisi ne mara” (When everyone is killing me, which names should I mention).
The Time Magazine featured a dadi Bilkis on its cover page. Rana Ayyub wrote an article eulogising her. Sentiments will be hurt if I ask where they are now. If they really had any agency of their own why these dadis are now silent. Can we say that they were Anna Hazare(s) of the anti CAA-NRC protests?
Muslim candidates contesting, Muslim leaders campaigning, Muslim intellectuals writing, left-liberals and others who talked about the CAA-NRC protests are silent. Why? Are they afraid? Do they believe they were wrong? Next time when you meet any votary of CAA-NRC protests, ask them why don’t they speak about the issue anymore.
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