New Delhi: Following the Modi government’s announcement of the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, there is an uneasiness in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
The women of this South Delhi neighbourhood are anguished, they say the move is an “election manoeuvre”, a “tactic of communal polarisation”. But despite their discontent, this time, they don’t intend to protest.
Four years ago, on 15 December 2019, the same Shaheen Bagh became the epicentre of rousing protests over the passage of the CAA in Parliament — a movement so powerful, it made headlines across the world. Helmed by women, it lasted four months, even continuing during the pandemic, until the Delhi Police finally cleared the protest site two days after Section 144 was imposed in the national capital amid rising Covid cases.
“We gathered together in 2019 to express our concerns to the government. But they didn’t listen to us. If this government doesn’t listen, we don’t intend to protest,” says Shaheen Bagh resident Hina Ahmed, a 56-year-old makeup artist.
At Jamia Millia Islamia, another erstwhile hotbed of anti-CAA protests, students are speaking out against the implementation of the contentious law. Immediately after the CAA’s implementation Monday, the university campus came under heavy police and paramilitary deployment, which increased after a protest by some students. This comes four years after the police allegedly barged into the university’s library and indiscriminately lathi-charged students, amid anti-CAA protests on campus.
Following the government’s announcement, police in Delhi’s Northeast district identified and patrolled 43 hotspots.
Shaheen Kausar, who is vice-president of the Social Democratic Party of India, was a part of the Shaheen Bagh movement. After the protests ended in 2020, she dived into politics. Her theory is that the Modi government does not have any significant issue it can make into a talking point for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, which is why it decided to implement the CAA. However, she emphasises that there are no plans to organise any protests.
“According to the Constitution, this should have been done. All of this is being done for vote bank politics. The BJP government wants to worsen the country’s situation,” says Kausar. “Our protest will be peaceful because maintaining peace is also the responsibility of civil society. One can also oppose by approaching the court.”
However, Kausar has no plans to move court either.
At Jamia, however, students have expressed their intentions to carry forward the movement of 2019. According to Niranjan, a student and member of the All India Revolutionary Students Organisation (AIRSO), this move by the government is a “desperate effort to transform India into a fascist Hindu Rashtra”.
According to him, the real issue isn’t just the content of the rules, but rather the implementation of the CAA, which he says is “inherently unjust, discriminatory, and divisive”. For him, what’s more alarming is that the Act was implemented just one day before the State Bank of India was to produce electoral bonds data, as directed by the Supreme Court.
“This law provides citizenship based on religion, by selectively excluding Muslims from getting citizenship, it goes against the concept of secularism, which is a basic principle of the Constitution of India,” says Niranjan.
His and other student organisations plan to devise a strategy for protesting against the CAA. They will also demand justice for the police attacks on universities in 2019 and the release of anti-CAA protesters detained under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Also Read: Proof of nationality, date of entry to India — what’s required for citizenship under CAA rules
‘Does the govt want us to make fake documents?’
Shaheen Bagh resident Hina Ahmed, quoted earlier, says she is not considering protesting because the government is “acting according to its own agenda, neglecting the issues of the Muslim community”.
She cites last week’s incident of a Delhi Police sub-inspector seen on a viral video kicking Muslims while they offered namaz, as an example.
Ahmed says that the BJP-led central government is not working for the people, but for its own benefit. She does not deny that people are scared because of the CAA, and talks about keeping her own documents ready to show to the government.
“I want to ask the Modi government how many hospitals it has built during its tenure and how many people have obtained birth certificates under them,” says the makeup artist.
Earlier, most births occurred at home rather than in hospitals, resulting in many people not having birth certificates or other documents, Ahmed further says. During the Shaheen Bagh protests, many people claimed that their documents were destroyed in natural disasters like floods.
“Does the government want us to make fake documents and promote corruption?” she asks.
However, she also says that she is not yet aware of which documents will be required under the CAA.
Ahmed feels betrayed, deceived by the implementation of the CAA. “Jo bhi hoga, dekha jayega.”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)