Published 12:52 IST, February 3rd 2020
Owaisi raises 'save country' slogan against shooter's "pro-Hindu" chants at Jamia Millia
After the Shaheen Bagh aerial firing incident, AIMIM Chief Asaddudin Owaisi has linked the incident to BJP by saying that the shooter echoed BJP's agenda
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After a man fired aerial shots outside the Shaheen Bagh protest area, AIMIM Chief Asaddudin Owaisi has linked the incident to BJP by saying that the shooter echoed BJP's agenda and has blamed the Hindutva ideology for the multiple shooing incidents.
"We saw that a violent person went to Shaheen Bagh and said that this country belongs to Hindus. I want to convey to that terrorist, this country neither belongs to Hindus, nor Muslims, nor Christians, this country does not belong to any religion, this country belongs to those who believe in all the religions, this country also belongs to those who do not believe in any religion. The fight on CAA, NPR, NRC wants to drown the country in Hindutva ideology. We have to save this country from the Hindutva ideology", said Owaisi.
After a series of anti-CAA protests across the country which have intensified especially in the poll-bound national capital, there have been multiple incidents of shooting near the protest sites, twice near Jamia and once outside Shaheen Bagh with rounds of aerial fire. The men firing rounds had raised pro-Hindu slogans against the anti-CAA protests giving fodder to the opposition parties. Parties such as Congress, AAP and AIMIM have slammed the centre and the police for the situation of violence.
Protests against CAA
The nation has witnessed a series of protests concerning the CAA, NPR and the proposed NRC in several places across the country which magnified in prominent universities such as JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim university resulting in vandalism, rioting, damaging public property and stone-pelting by protestors, leading to retaliatory action by police personnel. Both the protestors and the police personnel suffered injuries in violent protests.
The Shaheen Bagh protest blocking an important road for over one and a half month in Delhi has caused massive inconvenience and delay to civilians in transit, emergency services such as ambulance and fire brigade. Opposition leaders from AAP and Congress leaders such as Mani Shankar Aiyar a day after returning from his visit to Pakistan has supported Shaheen Bagh protest.
Hitting back at the Congress and oppositions' support to the protest, BJP leaders such as Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma have slammed the protests for their provoking speeches and statements in poll-bound Delhi, followed by multiple shooting incidents with pro-Hindu slogans raised near protest area, twice in Jamia and once in Shaheen Bagh, making the political situation vicious and intense.
What are the protests for?
The CAA law grants citizenship to persecuted minorities such as Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi refugees who have escaped persecution from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and have taken refuge in India since or before December 31 2014. With no mention of Muslims in the CAA law, a section of the Muslim community seemingly feels threatened alleging that government plans to systematically detain or oust the Indian Muslims despite the government's repeated assurance that no Indian citizen will be ousted as the law is about giving citizenship to persecuted minorities and not about snatching away citizenship.
Protestors have raised questions on the exclusion of the Muslim refugees in the law. Center in its defence has said that Muslims are in majority in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and are not persecuted in these countries as against the plight of the minorities which is much worse.
The centre further stated that leaders during the times of independence and partition such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had promised the minorities that India would accept them if they wish to come back since they were the victims of partition whereas a section of Muslim community willingly chose to make a separate Muslim dominated nation which is today's Pakistan hence the Muslims need not come back to India as it was their decision to go to Pakistan. The centre reiterated that the CAA law is a fulfilment of the long-awaited promise made by Mahatma Gandhi and several such leaders of those times.
12:52 IST, February 3rd 2020