Many reports of violence have emerged from the state of Uttar Pradesh in light of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). Around 18 people, including an 8-year-old boy have died and police brutality has emerged to be one of the major causes for the same. The state administration has claimed that it has identified rioters and is now in the process of seizing their properties.
Seeing the current developments in the region, the Vice President of the Socialist Party (India) and Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey has written an open letter to Chief Minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath imploring him to deliberate on his government’s action against the violence during the CAA protests and requesting them to act more wisely keeping the sensitivity of the matter in mind.
In his letter, he asks the CM about why violence during CAA NRC protests broke out only in UP when protests of a larger strength took place at other places without any untoward incidents?
Speaking about the fateful day of December 19 on which heavy violence and police excesses were reported from the state, Pandey lay emphasis on the arrests of civilians, lecturers, lawyers and social and human rights activists like Advocate Mohammad Shoaib, SR Darapuri, Sadaf Jafar, Robin Verma and Deepak Mishra among scores of others pointing out that such arrests will only give a free rein to anarchist elements who are the ones actually responsible for the disruption of peace in the state.
He most importantly asked about the credibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) assurance to Muslims that they need to worry regarding the implementation of the CAA-NRC, especially when most of the people who died due to police excesses were Muslims and most of the FIR’s registered in response to violence were against Muslims.
His complete letter can be read below:
Respected Chief Minister,
I had sought your appointment on December 21, 2019. However, as I didn’t get a response I thought of writing my thoughts to you through this open letter.
I want to make some comments on the approach of government-administration on protests against Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens held in Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh. A pertinent question which needs to be asked is when lakhs of people assembled at other places in the country without any untoward incident why did violence break out in UP?
The vengeance with which UP government-administration is acting in response to the violence by anarchist elements which took place during protests is condemnable as more maturity and restraint is expected of any government-administration.
It is the anarchist elements which are responsible for violence but action is being taken against people who, all along their lives, have adopted peaceful means of protests and have faith in the Constitution of the country.
My friends Advocate Mohammad Shoaib and retired Indian Police Services officer S.R. Darapuri have been arrested, who like me were under house arrest in Lucknow on 19/12/19, the day on which maximum violence took place. Mohammad Shoaib was Secretary of City unit of Socialist Party when he was a student of LLB at Lucknow University in 1972 and at present is the State President of Socialist Party (India). He has been successful in getting 14 innocent youth, who were falsely implicated in terrorism related cases, acquitted from the Court after contesting their cases. He was attacked inside Court by advocates who didn’t want him to take up cases of the abovementioned youth but has not used violence against anybody in his life.
S.R. Darapuri is a human rights and Ambedkarite activist and has contested Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections from UP. In 2008, he and I were part of a fact finding team which had produced a report declaring Shahbaz from Lucknow innocent when he was picked up by Rajasthan police in the Jaipur bomb blast case, in which Shahbaz was recently acquitted by the Court too.
Robin Verma, a University teacher and a volunteer of Rihai Manch, of which Mohammad Shoaib is the President, has been beaten up badly by police before being sent to jail. Congress Party spokesperson Sadaf Jafar was till the last moment before her arrest trying to pacify the youth who were indulging in violence of which there is proof.
Similarly, Deepak Mishra is a creative cultural activist and Dr. Pawan Rao Ambedkar is a lecturer at Rae Bareli.
In Varanasi among the activists and students who have been arrested I personally know Anoop Shramik, Dhananjay Tripathi, Diwakar Singh, Ram Janam, Shivraj Yadav, Ekta, Ravi Kumar, Sanya Khan, Sriprakash Rai, Prashant Rai, Satish Singh, Raj Abhishek, Deepak Rajguru, Manish Kumar, Sanjeev Singh, Arpit Giri, Narendra Mani Tripathi, Gaurav Mani Tripathi, Shahid Jamal and Chedilal Nirala about whom I can say with confidence that they can only be involved in peaceful protests.
I’ve myself demonstrated peacefully against CAA-NRC outside Banaras Hindu University main gate on 14 December and outside my house under detention on 19 December.
If you’ll send social activists, who have faith in the Constitution, to jail because your police in unable to identify the anarchist elements then the space for peaceful means of expressing dissent with the government in a democracy will be eliminated and anarchist elements will be easily able to mislead the common people. Social activists have a useful role of providing creative options to people of expressing their opposition to the government on any issue. It is certain that if social activists will be able to influence the protests they will remain peaceful and in their absence there is danger of these protests turning anarchist.
I’ll leave it to your wisdom. If you think it proper please reconsider your decision and withdraw the cases against abovementioned activists and release all innocent people.
I’ve an additional comment. After the nationwide protests against CAA-NRC now the Bhartaiya Janata Party leaders are asking the Muslim citizens of country not to worry. But in the FIRs registered in response to violence during protests most of the names of accused are Muslims. For example, in FIR No. 600/2019 registered at Police Station, Hazratganj, Lucknow out of 39 accused, 36 names are those of Muslims whereas non-Muslims participated in the protests in large numbers and out of 16 youth killed in UP due to bullet injuries all are Muslims. If there will be a bias against Muslims in taking action then how can they be expected to have confidence in the government-administration?
I hope you’ll deliberate over my letter.
With regards,
Sandeep Pandey
Vice-President, Socialist Party (India)
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