Local protesters including students marched from Batla House to Mathura Road, Effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah were burnt, traffic was disrupted for more than two hours
Syed Ali Ahmed
New Delhi, December 15 –Police fired dozens of teargas shells to disperse the protesters against the new citizenship law near the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university and near Kalindi Kunj-Sarita Vihar Road on Sunday evening.
Police also resorted to heavy lathi-charge.
Police also reportedly entered the Jamia university mosque and beat up everyone who had gone there for prayers.
Several vehicles were also set afire, including three buses, near Mata Mandir in upmarket New Friends Colony. There are different versions. While police claims it was the handiwork of protesters, people participating in protests said they were not involved in it. Some alleged that it were the policemen who poured inflammable liquid on the buses and then set them afire to defame the protesters.
Fire-fighters who were dousing fire, were also reported to have been beaten.
The police also entered the university campus and gheraoed the students in reading room of the library. “They were studying. But the police lathi charged them”, students alleged. When questioned how the police entered the university campus, JMI spokesperson Azeem Akhtar told India Tomorrow, “I can’t comment on it”.
Meanwhile, JMI vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar has appealed for peace. She told mediapersons that students of the university were in the campus and were not moving out of the university.
Appealing for peace, VC said, “I am worried about the students”.
“I appeal to students to keep peace. Everything will be all right but we can’t protect students if they leave the campus,” Ms Akhtar told media. She said that some members of the public from the main road that divides the university campus into two, may have joined the protest.
JMI students and Jamia Teachers Association (JTA) have dissociated themselves from Sunday’s violence.
JTA condemned the violence and said that they stood for peace and were totally against any kind of violence.
A group of Jamia students issued a statement dissociating themselves from the violence on Sunday. “We have time and again maintained our protests are peaceful and non-violent. We stand by this approach and condemn any party involved in violence. We have maintained calm even when students have been lathi-charged and some women protestors have been badly beaten up,” the statement said, adding that violence “by certain elements” was an attempt to vilify and discredit genuine protests.
A student Mohammed Salman said that most of the protesting students were still inside the campus and would “follow Constitutional paths to register their protest”. Earlier, on Friday, JMI students wanted to take out a march Jamia to Parliament House to register their protest against the new law. But a clash took place between the police and students when the latter were prevented from taking out the march. While police blamed the students for initiating violence, students accused the police of first resorting to violence.
Protestors including a large number of Jamia Millia Islamia students and thousands of leaderless local Muslims took out a march today from Batla House to Mathura Road in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act demanding that the “discriminatory” law should be withdrawn forthwith. They burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah amidst chanting of slogans “No CAB, No CAA and No NRC”, opposite main gate of JMI.
At the entrance of Art Faculty, the students wrote “say No to Hitler ideology, say No to Partition, Halla Bol, Save Article 14 of right to equality, Article 21 of right to life, Save Constitution, Civil disobedience”.
Muslim youths also protested on the highway that connected Mathura Road and NOIDA. Shaheen Bagh residents, Madanpur Khadar and residents of nearby areas gathered at Sarita Vihar Road to protest against the new citizenship law which gives citizenship rights to every one excepting Muslims even if they don’t have relevant documents. Muslims feel that after NRC exercise, while non-Muslims without documents would become citizens automatically by virtue of the new citizenship law, Muslims not being able to arrange documents would be declared foreigners and pushed into detention camps for throughout their remainder life. Muslims also feel that they would be forced in camps to convert their religions like it is happening in China where Uighur Muslims are being kept in “Reformation Camps” and forced to eat pork and give up Islam .
Having seen the enthusiasm and endless serpentine line of people from Jamia side to Julaina, a passer-by, Surender Kumar said that protestors need a leader. Had there been a leader, the situation would have been serious. There was only a small time leader Ashu Khan who took the protestors from Sarai Julena to Mathura Road. But police stopped them near Surya Hotel, by erecting barricades. The entire stretch from Sarai Julaina to Surya Hotel was full of protestors with slogans “Narendra Modi hai hai, Amit Shah hai hai”.(Down with Prime Minister narendra Modi, Down with Home Minister Amit shah).
The traffic movement was affected at crossings of Sarai Julaina from 2 pm to 4 pm. Station House Officer of Jamia Nagar Police Station asked the protestors twenty five minutes after they sat on the crossings to leave the road for normal flow of traffic. But youths insisted to go ahead towards Mathura Road. The protestors came in different groups after a gap of a few minutes.
Masoom Raza, a third-year student of law at JMI said that the BJP had mandate to rule the country and Muslims have no objection to it. “Muslims believe in democracy and follow the Constitution. But the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government is going on the lines of Hitler’s ideology and that is not acceptable”, said the student. “The discriminatory citizenship law clearly indicates that the government wants to make the Muslims second rate citizens though the Constitution has given equal rights to each citizen. The CA Act 2019 is violation of the Constitution. The government should withdraw it forthwith”, Raza demanded.
Amita a student of Economics said, “Hindus and Muslims have been living peacefully. There is no foreign Muslims. They may be only in Northeast region of the country. The Act has been constituted just to harass the Muslim community. Now we are on the road. The entire country will fight against this law.”
Ubaid, another student, said, “in its second term, the BJP government is slowly going towards Hindu Rashtra. Keeping this nefarious design in view, the government has brought the new citizenship law asking Muslims to prove their Indian nationality. But Muslims and non-Muslim secular people will not let the government have discrimination against the second largest community in the country”.
Abuzar Abbas, who is doing a professional course from P. Narain Institute, had directly come to participate in the protest at JMI.
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