Asked what he will do if police move in to clear the longest women-led anti-citizenship regime vigil in the country at Shaheen Bagh, lawyer Firoz Iqbal Khan did not think for long.
“We will offer our heads to break,” he said.
Last week, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said Delhi police, which report to the Centre, would evict the protesters the day after the Assembly polls on Saturday. On Friday, the Supreme Court postponed to Monday the hearing on two petitions to clear the site.
(Late on Friday night, the PTI news agency reported that the Supreme Court has taken cognisance of its own to “stop involvement of children and infants in demonstrations”. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde will take up the issue on Monday. An infant who had been accompanying his parents to Shaheen Bagh died on January 10 after returning home.)
“The court hasn’t given us any protection from police action and there is apprehension since the vested interests of the BJP — to seek votes by polarising people on Shaheen Bagh — will also end tomorrow. There is a general consensus that no one will resort to stone-pelting or even resist the police. We will disperse and gather if the police do not clamp down on the road. If they make this place a fortress, we will just stand on the sidewalks and protest silently,” Khan told The Telegraph.
Khan cited junior home minister Nityanand Rai’s reply to Parliament that in 2016, the Centre advised Assam to release suspected foreigners detained in the state if they belong to any major religion other than Islam.
“The government confirms our worst fears about our fate after the NRC (National Register of Citizens, whose nationwide implementation is a proposal as of now) is implemented, so people will continue to protest. In fact, we had decided to open one side of the road when the firing at Jamia Millia Islamia happened. It’s clear that we will be persecuted regardless of the method of protest. So, people are staying,” he said.
After a zealot opened fire at Shaheen Bagh last Saturday, the protesters have set up a maze of ropes to regulate the crowd. Khan suggested they dismantle this to prevent a stampede in the event of police raids.
The Border Security Force and the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed for polls in the area. Some residents have privately expressed surprise at why the PAC, whose personnel have been convicted of communal incidents like the 1987 execution of Muslims in Hashimpura, has been deployed in Muslim-dominated Okhla.
He added: “We have no place to protest, nor has the government attempted to establish any dialogue. All we know is that whatever happens after tomorrow will be worse than whatever has happened so far. So much venom has been injected in the election campaign that it won’t be surprising to see armed mobs trying to evict us. There is some sense of security here because of the 500 Sikh peasants who have come in solidarity.”
Sikh boys as young as 10 volunteer to frisk people entering the area.
Jaber Jung Singh, a Sikh peasant from Bathinda who runs one of the three langars here, told this paper: “If the eviction is legal, we will abide by it. If the police act like goons, we will protest. Of course, there is fear, but we can’t compromise on principles that demand we protect unarmed people from harm.”
Shamshuddin, one of the earliest volunteers at Shaheen Bagh, said relations with law enforcement were strained, but people were keen that the polls went off smoothly. “The police said they needed to take the barricades here for election duty, but no one was willing to give them as we fear that we won’t even get time to run if the barricades don’t slow down the raid — when it comes…. Yet, we are asking everyone to cast their vote tomorrow. Battery-operated rickshaws will be allowed to ply here tomorrow.”
He added: “There is bitterness that although the AAP and other parties were also there when we began the protest, the Delhi Assembly did not follow the lead of other states and pass a resolution against the CAA.
“There is so much bitterness now and everything is Shaheen Bagh versus the world. Even our neighbours in Jasola or Sukhdev Vihar will go to court and go to TV channels to speak against the protest, but they haven’t come here to speak to us. There are still people who support us. Bengalis, especially young women from Chittaranjan Park and Kalkaji nearby, have come several times with milk and tea leaves.”
Elderly resident S.K. Ahmed said: “There is a mixed response to apprehension of a crackdown. The committed organisers want to stay on and court arrest. The larger crowd which comes and goes will not resist.”
Mansoor Alam, a carpenter, is hoping against hope. “Won’t the world express outrage if force is used on such a large peaceful gathering? I don’t think the government will do something like this, for the shame it will bring to our country,” Alam said.
