The picture being circulated on social media, in a bid to counter the FM’s narrative, is that of a man wearing police protective gear over his plain clothes, standing with some police men and being identified through his Facebook profile as a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a right-wing group that is affiliated to the Sangh Parivar. One wonders what business does an ABVP member have wearing police gear and inflicting brutality on students?
While students of Universities like Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University in Lucknow came out in large numbers to peacefully protest the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), they were faced with unprecedented police brutality.
Amidst such a sensitive scenario Sitharaman made an offensive and ill-informed comment saying, “I don’t know what happened at Jamia last night; we must be wary of jihadists, Maoists, separatists getting into student protests”. At one end she says she doesn’t know what happened there and on the other hand she makes an unfounded assumption that there may be elements like jihadists, Maoists, separatists in a students’ protest!
There were also some images and videos shared by social media users questioning why persons in plain clothes were engaging in lathi charge on students, along with the police.
Like in the above image, the man in a red t-shirt is even wearing the head gear of the police! What does this imply? Does the Finance Minister have any explanation for this?
To counter her claims though, a picture is surfacing on the internet and being shared on social media:
Once again, a person in plain clothes can be seen wearing police protective gear and this person is being identified from his Facebook profile as Bharat Sharma with a long allegiance with right wing organizations. He turned out to be an Executive Member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a right-wing students’ organization and also a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the ruling BJP. The caption below the image translates as, “Now tell us Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman who are these “Maoists, Separatists and Jihadists”? RSS, ABVP, BJP committing violence along with the police!”
While one could still question the veracity of this image, and this person’s identity is difficult to ascertain, it is clear that people in plain clothes were actually “allowed” by the police to wear their protective gears and to indulge in brutality on students. Is it not illegal to impersonate a police man? The police have immunity from the State, and the police have delegated this immunity to these rogues? Is there a perilous complicity between the police and these right-wing organizations we are not aware of and should we not be wary of them instead? When will the government break their silence on this?
These are just some questions the government will choose not to answer at this moment and some questions the masses will keep asking and it is upon the judiciary now to pull up the authorities and the government and get to the root of this.