Image Courtesy: indianexpress.com
In Delhi, two women were holding a banner that read, “Shame; CAA and NRC, crossed out; Jai Hind; Aazadi and #NotInMyName” while Home Minister, Amit Shah was visiting Lajpat Nagar to create positive awareness about CAA. These women have however been evicted from their rented apartment post this incident, with one of them claiming that a mob even tried to barge into their residence.
It seems like the BJP campaign intended to gain support for CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) is turning into a flop show in some instances. Three such instances have come to the fore until now, namely, Karnataka, Delhi and Kerala, one of which is even a BJP ruled state. SabrangIndia had reported how BJP leaders were stopped from entering Chalavadikeri area in Hosapete, Karnataka by a few Muslims and those belonging to SC/ST communities as they had come there to increase awareness about CAA.
In a statement released by one of the women, Surya Rajappan, she said, “Upon noticing our protest, the members of the rally (Amit Shah’s pro-CAA rally) started getting enraged and visibly agitated and proceeded to verbally harass and intimidate us by shouting out threats and derogatory/misogynistic remarks.” She even mentioned about an enraged mob of 150 people which gathered below their apartment. She highlighted the fact that they (members of Amit Shah’s rally) were “threatened by the simple act of two girls protesting peacefully to tackle what they perceived as an obvious ‘threat’ to their propaganda parade.”
Even their protest banner was torn and taken away. The girls had not anticipated such a response and fearing their lives, they locked themselves up in their home as people from the mob kept banging on their door until the police intervened.
Moreover, the landlord bolted the common stairway entrance to the girls’ home leaving the girls trapped in their home for 3-4 hrs even as their friends tried to get them out as the angry mob persisted. Finally, when Surya’s father came with police, their complaint against the mob was registered and they were able to leave the apartment.
In all this frenzy, the landlord informed the girls that they have been evicted from the premises. She further said, “We are privileged, educated young professionals living in the heart of the national capital of the county and if this is what we had to undergo for exercising our rights, I shudder to imagine the atrocities being perpetrated on the defenceless and voiceless millions across Kashmir, UP and interior India in our name, and who are deliberately and systematically excluded from the lens of the mainstream media.”
Surya Rajappan’s statement can be read here.
BJP leaders are facing a similar kind of opposition to their pro-CAA door-to-door awareness campaign in Kerala as well. In the Karadi village of Kozhikode district in Kerala, around 350 houses put up posters informing the BJP-RSS workers that they are not welcome. The poster text in Malayalam reads, “We are fully aware that this law is against the Constitution. BJP-RSS workers need not come here to explain their support to this.” According to reports, similar posters have cropped up in other parts of the district too.
https://twitter.com/
BJP decided to do a door to door campaign in Kerala in order to ‘explain’ CAA to the people.
This is how Malayalis welcomed them pic.twitter.com/jDoGpSAcTf
— pk (@Parvezk08501382) January 7, 2020
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