On February 1, an armed gunman opened fire at protesters at Shaheen Bagh. The man identified as Kapil said, “Sirf Hinduon ka raj chalega,” (Only Hindus will rule). Though he was apprehended by authorities, the chilling picture that is emerging cannot be ignored. The Shaheen Bagh attack comes close at the heels of a similar attack on protesters outside Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMIU) by another youth who had yelled, “Kise chaahiye azaadi, yeh lo azaadi,” (Who wants freedom? Here’s your freedom) before firing at them. One young man was injured in this attack. But shortly afterwards the Hindu Mahasabha decided to not only felicitate the assailant, but also bear his legal expenses.
But now, it is becoming difficult to shake of a sense of foreboding that all this is building up for an ugly show-down. Recently, an outfit named Hindu Sena issued this press release proclaiming that they will rid the streets of Shaheen Bagh of ‘jehadis’. The extremely inflammatory press release also claimed that Shaheen Bagh protesters were speaking the language of Pakistanis. The press release may be read here:
It is interesting to note, that a majority of the protesters at Shaheen Bagh are women, often seen with babies in their arms. The fact that a group can openly threaten, mothers and grandmothers, daughters and sisters, housewives and professionals, only because these women got together to protest peacefully, shows the underlying misogyny of the Hindutva supremacist groups.
Meanwhile, the Jamia Coordination committee has appealed to the administration to protect peaceful protesters from armed goons. The letter warns of the threat to the lives of protesters given how different right-wing groups have either directly threatened then or incited violence against them. The letter may be read here:
All this appears to be a ploy to not only threaten minorities engaging in their democratic and constitutionally guaranteed right to protest peacefully, but also an attempt to score political brownie points during election season. Delhi goes to polls on February 8 and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has built a strong foundation with its people-friendly policies.