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.
भारत सरकार और पुलिस देश के लोकतंत्र को खतम करने और विरोध की आवाज को दबाने में अपना पूरा वक्त लगा रही है।
शर्म आनी चाहिए इन्हें।
दिल्ली पुलिस हमारे साथियों को जल्द से जल्द रिहा करें।#ShameOnUpPolice#ShameOnDelhiPolice #ShameOnBJP
#MuslimLivesMatter#StandWithAfreenFatima
2/2 pic.twitter.com/yMZbJyjey7— Asif Iqbal Tanha (@AsifTanhaJamia) June 13, 2022
Fraternity movement, SIO, MSF, and Collective cadres got arrested by Delhi for holding a protest, raising slogans & against the Bulldozer politics of the Sangh Parivar government and its U P Police at Delhi UP Bhawan.#WeStandWithAfreenFatima#Fraternitymovement#UPBhavan pic.twitter.com/wvAiWp8fbW
— Fraternity Movement (@Fraternity_movt) June 13, 2022
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.
Hate monger Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal Roam Scot-free, but Large scale arrests of & crackdown on protesting Muslims demanding action on hatemongers!
Condemn this brazen communal witch-hunt!
Stand in Solidarity with Afreen Fatima Whose Family Members Were Detained by UP Police! pic.twitter.com/5jq0y8LlGN
— AISA (@AISA_tweets) June 12, 2022
Visual from today’s citizens protest in Delhi against the demolition of #AfreenFatima‘s house in Prayagraj/Allahabad and BJP’s fascist #Bulldozer Raj targeting members of Muslim community.
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.@AISA_tweets @cpimlliberation @cpiml_delhi @AICCTUhq pic.twitter.com/Tntn8CtS0s— CPIML Liberation (@cpimlliberation) June 13, 2022
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.
Heavy police deployed outside Jamia Millia Islamia after student groups called for a protest against bulldozing of homes and persecution. They are not letting anyone, except the entrance aspirants and PhD scholars, in. We are officially a police state! #StandWithAfreenFatima pic.twitter.com/L2WsYgJkEq
— Musab Qazi (@musab1) June 13, 2022
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