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The first step to calm tempers and prepare the ground for a dialogue in Shaheen Bagh is to get the BJP leaders to tone down their rhetoric and stop the vilification of protesters. Over the weekend, at poll rallies in Delhi, UP Chief Minister Adityanath accused Shaheen Bagh protesters of raising pro-Pakistan slogans and alleged that the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal were feeding biriyani to terrorists from Pakistan. The BJP leaders seem unfazed at the dangerous turn of events and have continued to engage in polarising talk. Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry, was a mute spectator when both these incidents took place, raising questions about its conduct. Later, on Saturday, a Delhi resident, identified as Kapil Gujjar, raised communal slogans and fired in the air at Shaheen Bagh. Last week, soon after Union minister Anurag Thakur whipped up frenzy at an election rally where a mob chanted “desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaro”, a 17-year-old, who claimed to be a BJP supporter, fired at students in Jamia Millia Islamia, injuring one person. The demonisation of the protesters as anti-nationals by the BJP leadership, presumably with the intent to polarise Delhi voters ahead of the February 8 assembly elections, has triggered extreme reaction from the party’s own cadres.
It’s time the party leadership starts viewing the protesters as part of us, the nation and its people, and recognise the peaceful protest as a legitimate expression of democratic dissent. Party leaders, including people holding high public office, have been extremely hostile to the Shaheen Bagh protesters - they have been consistently trying to frame the agitation using the binary of “us” and “them”, us being nationalists and them being anti-nationals.
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