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Freedom Minorities

AISA students detained for decrying bulldozer raj

Students gathered and marched peacefully in the face of heavy police deployment: Delhi

Aisa

Angered by the regime’s ‘bulldozer-raj’ the All India Students’ Association (AISA) on June 13, 2022 called for a citizens’ protest against police brutalities on Friday, and targeted demolitions of Muslim homes. Some students protesting near UP Bhawan were detained by the police.

 

 

Last week, on the afternoon of June 10, a Friday, Muslims across India engaged in huge protests to demand suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s arrest for her insulting remarks about Prophet Mohammad and Islam. Although the protest ended within hours, what followed were widespread arrests in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well as illegal demolitions in parts of UP.

Notedly, the Prayagraj (Allahabad) police illegally detained Javed Mohamad, local activists and father of anti-CAA activist Afreen Fatima. Later his wife and younger daughter were also illegally detained. On June 12, their house was brazenly demolished without following any due process, for allegedly “encroaching”. This act has now been challenged through a letter petition in the Allahabad high court.

It was against this state-sponsored violence of the Muslim community that the AISA students rose in protest and called for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Members demanded that the government:

  • Stop police brutality in Ranchi, Allahabad and various places in India
  • Cease witch-hunting of Afreen Fatima’s family
  • Stop targeting Muslims and bulldozing their houses

In a press release the AISA made a call for peace and appealed to people to end the BJP’s “vicious divisive rule”. In their statement, students condemned the government for failing to prosecute Sharma but attacking protesters with guns.

“Unsurprisingly, while no action has been taken against Sharma and Naveen Jindal, the police forces have come down heavily on those who protested against them,” said the AISA.

Further, the UP police arrested and penalised many prominent anti-CAA voices, active in late 2019-early 2020 against what was perceived to be an unjust amendment to the Citizenship Act. The AISA called this a deliberate act of harassment that reflects the BJP’s communal agenda.

“The practise of using bulldozers against Muslims has become a recurring tactic of the ruling government to curb dissenting voices. This is nothing but a state-sponsored attack on the minority communities and is against the secular ethos enshrined in our constitution,” said the AISA.

 

 

Aside from students from other parts of Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia University students also joined the call to condemn the bulldozer-raj in India. However, heavy police was deployed outside the university campus. Barring entrance aspirants and PhD students, the police refused to allow protesting students.

 

 

The act of using bulldozers has become a disconcerting move by the ruling regime since the anti-CAA protests in 2019. This tactic has now been significantly used in Uttar Pradesh where many Muslim protesters now face the threat of forced eviction. In 2022, Khargone (Madhya Pradesh) Muslim residents were the first to suffer the ‘bulldozer raaj’ soon followed by Muslim communities in Delhi, Bengaluru and Assam.

Related:

Spontaneous pan-India protests against Nupur Sharma

Ranchi: 2 dead and Muslim boy terrorised for Friday protests

Right-wing calls Ranchi boy’s ordeal a “victim card” tactic

Evolution of Bulldozer Injustice

Bulldozer Injustice: How far is the regime planning to go?

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