“Badkirdaar auratein” – this is what the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi has called the women protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Lucknow.
Saying that these women “take money” to stage protests and do other work. He has said that they come together in groups of 30 – 40 at the call of Maulana Kalbe Jawad who has always sought to topple the peaceful atmosphere in the state.
He also went on to say that the world knows about the “character” of the women who were protesting. He said that there was now a propaganda being spun against the Bharatiya Janata Party, by the Opposition parties and the ‘tukde-tukde’ gang by them making use of women to further their agitation against the CAA NRC.
He also said that the women were enjoying staging these protests like they were enjoying a picnic. Saying that the police and the administration were both being ‘troubled’ by these protests even though they had made clear that the Muslims would not face any threat if the CAA and NRC were implemented.
Calling it the handiwork of a few “kattarpanti mullahs” (zealots) like Kalbe Jawad who were closet supporters of the BJP, but now were using “their women” to protest against the government. He also said that the protest was still on because Maulana Kalbe Jawad wanted to increase his political mileage and get UP CM Yogi Adityanath to plead and grovel him into calling off the protest.
Rizvi reiterated his stance that the CAA and NRC were not detrimental to the future of Muslims in India and said that the protests sprouting throughout the country were just another attempt to break India up.
He also asked the UP police to register criminal cases against the women protesters and the men supporting them. He also asked the UP government to oust all protesters from the iconic monument of Ghantaghar (Clock Tower) where the “Sunni women” are staging their protest saying that land is not public property and belongs to the Shia Central Waqf Board.
Social activist Syed Wasif Hussain and others have lodged a complaint against Rizvi for his derogatory remarks and outraging the modesty of women, reported The Siasat Daily.
Our take: Waseem Rizvi’s misogynistic take on women protesters in Uttar Pradesh seems to be inspired by the state’s Chief Minister who had taken a similar stand recently. After terming protesters as ‘tukde tukde’ gang and alleging that protests are being sponsored by opposition parties, BJP leadership seems to have reached a new low; targeting women’s characters and making despicable remarks about them to dispel the stout opposition from masses against the ruling government’s divisive agenda.
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