No, this particularly is a fake profile indeed. Cause look at the DP, that pic was clicked recently where as this particular post is from Feb. Not saying she aint a jihadi but, this is clearly fake.
Lok Sabha passes Citizenship Bill amidst Opposition outcry
- Thread starter Ashwin
- Start date
No, this particularly is a fake profile indeed. Cause look at the DP, that pic was clicked recently where as this particular post is from Feb. Not saying she aint a jihadi but, this is clearly fake.
First notices go out in UP to 28 residents: Pay Rs 14 lakh for damage to property
The administration, while holding them responsible for acts of violence and damage to government property, has sought explanation on why recoveries should not be made for damage worth Rs 14.86 lakh.
Written by Manish Sahu | Lucknow | Updated: December 25, 2019 1:35:57
Protesters in Lucknow allegedly torched a police vehicle during an anti-CAA protest that turned violent last week. (Express photo: Vishal Srivastav)
Days after 16 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh where protests over the citizenship law led to a police crackdown and a warning from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that “revenge will be taken”, the Rampur district administration became the first in the state to initiate the process for recovery of damage to government property including police motorcycles, barrier, dandas.
In identical notices issued Tuesday to 28 people, including an embroidery worker and a hawker of spices who are already in custody, the administration, while holding them responsible for acts of violence and damage to government property, has sought explanation on why recoveries should not be made for damage worth Rs 14.86 lakh.
Notice lists cost of police barricades, sticks, vehicles.
Embroidery worker Zameer’s mother Munni Begum told The Indian Express that she does not even have money to hire a lawyer for her son in custody. “I have not received any recovery notice from the district administration so far. We don’t even have money to arrange a lawyer for Zameer. How can we pay any compensation?”.
She said police came to their house in Nai Basti Sunday afternoon and took Zameer with them. “They did not say why they were taking away Zameer. The next day, we came to know police had booked Zameer for the Saturday violence and sent him to jail. My son, who has studied only till Class IV, is innocent. On the day of the violence, he was at home,” she said.
Zameer’s neighbour Mehmood, who sold spices on a cart for a living, was also arrested by police on Sunday in connection with the same incident. Mehmood’s brother-in-law Faheem, a daily-wage labour hand, said Mehmood too was home on Saturday. “There was no need for him to participate in the violence… He lives in a rented accommodation and earns a meagre amount. How can he pay such a huge compensation sum?”.
Near Bilaspur Gate in Rampur, Seema, wife of labour hand Pappu, said her husband had been wrongly arrested in a case of arson. She too said her husband was home on Saturday, and that the police came the next day. “No one was ready to listen,” she said.
Zameer, Mehmood and Pappu have since been sent to Rampur jail. Police said Zameer and Mehmood were arrested for their alleged involvement in Saturday’s violence at Hathi Khan crossing that left one person dead and five injured.
Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said: “We issued notices to 28 persons whose role were found by police during investigation. Police submitted evidences against them. They (28) have been asked to submit their response within a week, otherwise the process of recovery against them will be started. Of the 28, a few have been arrested while raids are on to trace others. An accused and his family can submit evidence to support their plea that they have been wrongly booked in the case.”
The district administration said the notices were issued in line with a state government order based on an earlier ruling of the Allahabad High Court. The notices were issued on the basis of information provided by local police. Police have video clips and photographs, including from media houses and local residents. Police have also collected footage of CCTVs near the incident site.
In the notice, loss of property worth Rs 14,86,500 has been cited. It lists, among others, a police jeep of Bhot police station (Rs 750,000), motorcycle of a sub-inspector (Rs 65,000), motorcycle of City Kotwali police station (Rs 90,000), wireless set, hooter/loudspeaker, 10 dandas, three helmets, three body protectors.
First notices go out in UP to 28 residents: Pay Rs 14 lakh for damage to property
The administration, while holding them responsible for acts of violence and damage to government property, has sought explanation on why recoveries should not be made for damage worth Rs 14.86 lakh.
Written by Manish Sahu | Lucknow | Updated: December 25, 2019 1:35:57
Protesters in Lucknow allegedly torched a police vehicle during an anti-CAA protest that turned violent last week. (Express photo: Vishal Srivastav)
Days after 16 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh where protests over the citizenship law led to a police crackdown and a warning from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that “revenge will be taken”, the Rampur district administration became the first in the state to initiate the process for recovery of damage to government property including police motorcycles, barrier, dandas.
In identical notices issued Tuesday to 28 people, including an embroidery worker and a hawker of spices who are already in custody, the administration, while holding them responsible for acts of violence and damage to government property, has sought explanation on why recoveries should not be made for damage worth Rs 14.86 lakh.
Notice lists cost of police barricades, sticks, vehicles.
Embroidery worker Zameer’s mother Munni Begum told The Indian Express that she does not even have money to hire a lawyer for her son in custody. “I have not received any recovery notice from the district administration so far. We don’t even have money to arrange a lawyer for Zameer. How can we pay any compensation?”.
She said police came to their house in Nai Basti Sunday afternoon and took Zameer with them. “They did not say why they were taking away Zameer. The next day, we came to know police had booked Zameer for the Saturday violence and sent him to jail. My son, who has studied only till Class IV, is innocent. On the day of the violence, he was at home,” she said.
Zameer’s neighbour Mehmood, who sold spices on a cart for a living, was also arrested by police on Sunday in connection with the same incident. Mehmood’s brother-in-law Faheem, a daily-wage labour hand, said Mehmood too was home on Saturday. “There was no need for him to participate in the violence… He lives in a rented accommodation and earns a meagre amount. How can he pay such a huge compensation sum?”.
Near Bilaspur Gate in Rampur, Seema, wife of labour hand Pappu, said her husband had been wrongly arrested in a case of arson. She too said her husband was home on Saturday, and that the police came the next day. “No one was ready to listen,” she said.
Zameer, Mehmood and Pappu have since been sent to Rampur jail. Police said Zameer and Mehmood were arrested for their alleged involvement in Saturday’s violence at Hathi Khan crossing that left one person dead and five injured.
Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said: “We issued notices to 28 persons whose role were found by police during investigation. Police submitted evidences against them. They (28) have been asked to submit their response within a week, otherwise the process of recovery against them will be started. Of the 28, a few have been arrested while raids are on to trace others. An accused and his family can submit evidence to support their plea that they have been wrongly booked in the case.”
The district administration said the notices were issued in line with a state government order based on an earlier ruling of the Allahabad High Court. The notices were issued on the basis of information provided by local police. Police have video clips and photographs, including from media houses and local residents. Police have also collected footage of CCTVs near the incident site.
In the notice, loss of property worth Rs 14,86,500 has been cited. It lists, among others, a police jeep of Bhot police station (Rs 750,000), motorcycle of a sub-inspector (Rs 65,000), motorcycle of City Kotwali police station (Rs 90,000), wireless set, hooter/loudspeaker, 10 dandas, three helmets, three body protectors.
First notices go out in UP to 28 residents: Pay Rs 14 lakh for damage to property
@AyshaRenna is the profile she made after the protests. The 'fake profile' which she is claiming posted this on feb. I saw that profile with all these posts.
Saswati Sarkar (@sarkar_swati) Tweeted:
Good Bangla slogan in @BJP4Bengal rally in Shiliguri - এ মাটি আমার মাটি, মাটির দখল ছাড়ছি না, জিহাদ তুমি যতই করো, তোমার কাছে হারছি না This land is mine, I will not relinquish it, I will not be defeated by ur Jihad Saswati Sarkar on Twitter ( )
#CongressMuktBharat (@sagenaradamuni) Tweeted:
You can fool once, not everytime
@DelhiPolice
Ayush Gupta on Twitter ( )
Good Bangla slogan in @BJP4Bengal rally in Shiliguri - এ মাটি আমার মাটি, মাটির দখল ছাড়ছি না, জিহাদ তুমি যতই করো, তোমার কাছে হারছি না This land is mine, I will not relinquish it, I will not be defeated by ur Jihad Saswati Sarkar on Twitter ( )
#CongressMuktBharat (@sagenaradamuni) Tweeted:
You can fool once, not everytime
@DelhiPoliceAyush Gupta on Twitter ( )
Law Enforcement Agencies should ensure that all of the students who were identified in the violent protests get at least a police case on record against them.
‘You’ve only two places, Pakistan or Kabristan’
Hasan said he was assaulted with rifle butt
By Imran Ahmed Siddiqui in Muzaffarnagar
No septuagenarian wails before a stranger without reason.
Haji Hamid Hasan, a 72-year-old timber trader in Muzaffarnagar town in western Uttar Pradesh, said nearly 30 policemen, some in plainclothes, broke into his two-storey house around 11pm on Friday and went on the rampage.
Hasan said he was assaulted with a rifle butt when he protested and beaten with sticks. They vandalised the house, breaking washbasins, bathroom fittings, bed, furniture, fridge, washing machine and utensils, he added.
“I cried and begged for mercy but they were very brutal. They told me Muslims have only two places, Pakistan or Kabristan,” he wailed while showing the scene of destruction inside his house and the injury on his leg.
Like most mohallas in India, elders take the lead during protests to ensure that they do not spin out of control and descend into violence. Hasan had done the same thing last Friday during protests against the amended citizenship act and the National Register of Citizens.
The horror, he said, continued for 30 to 40 minutes. “After destroying everything, they looted at gunpoint jewellery and cash of Rs 5 lakh kept in the almirah. I recently bought the jewellery for the weddings of my two grand-daughters,” Hasan said.
Hasan said his wife Fatima had holed up in a room with their two granddaughters, Ruqaiya Parveen, a postgraduate in science, and Mubashira Parveen, a graduate.
The intruders hurled abuses at the women, beat up Hasan’s son Md Shahid and took him away, he said.
Hasan said his only crime was that he and his son had participated in the protests after the Friday prayers.
“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is taking revenge and his policemen are targeting Muslims for participating in the protests. India is no longer the same country where I was born. My parents had rejected Jinnah’s Pakistan and embraced Gandhi’s India but this government has made us pariahs,” Hasan said, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Picking up the wedding cards of his two granddaughters — the weddings are scheduled for February 4 next year — he mumbled: “Modiji, you always tell people beti padhao, beti bachao but your policemen raided my house like criminals, abused them and looted their jewellery. They vandalised the furniture, beds, washing machines, fridge, air-conditioners, smart TVs I had bought as their wedding gifts. Are you listening?”
The aged citizen broke into a wail again.
When he regained composure, he said: “I was asleep with my eight-year-old grandson when I heard a loud thud on the main door. When I came near the gate, I noticed several people banging on the door repeatedly. I kept quiet but after a while they broke open the door with a hammer.”
He said the policemen had removed their name badges and several of them were in civilian clothes.
Shahid, his son, is still in police custody and he has been charged with rioting. “I met him and he said the cops asked him to hold a gun and then took his photo,” Hasan said.
Senior police officers in Muzaffarnagar refused comment when asked about the allegations listed by Hasan. “The police are only going to the houses of rioters who had taken part in the violence,” said a sub-inspector at Muzaffarnagar police station.
When this correspondent called Uttar Pradesh director-general of police O.P. Singh on his mobile phone, an aide took the call and said: “Sir is busy in a meeting. Please tell me whatever you want to say and I will convey him your message.”
Told about the alleged atrocities and vandalism by the police, the aide said: “This is completely untrue. The police have not vandalised any home. Our senior officials are monitoring the situation. The police are only taking action against rioters.”
A kilometre away, two cars of former Congress MP Saiduzzaman Saeed lay gutted in his farmhouse. His son Salman accused the police and local RSS foot soldiers of indulging in the violence. “It was a peaceful protest organised after the Friday prayers. Some RSS supporters in connivance with the police entered my farmhouse at 6pm and were involved in arson,” he said.
His farmhouse is around 800 metres from his house in the town.
He alleged that local RSS supporters opened fire on Muslim protesters and later broke into Muslim households and shops and looted their belongings.
“Their ulterior motive was to create a communal riot again to divide people,” Salman said.
His guard at the farmhouse, Bharat Ram, was witness to the arson.
“Policemen, along with some civilians, entered inside and ran amok, setting the four cars parked inside on fire and even went inside the stable where they hit one of the horses on its leg with a stick. They caught hold of me but let me off when I revealed my identity,” he said.
A little farther in the neighbourhood, Haji Akbar’s house is witness to the vandalism.
Broken pieces of washbasins, furniture, fridge and utensils were strewn all over.
“Cops along with some people in mufti barged into my house and vandalised everything on Friday evening. They were armed with lathis and rods and hurled abuses at women. When I went to the police station to lodge a complaint, they threatened to implicate me in rioting cases. They abused and pushed me when I requested them to help me meet senior police officials,” he said.
Shanno, 19, who is seven-months pregnant, wept inconsolably, holding the photo of her husband Noor Mohammad, 26, a hawker. He died of bullet injury in the violence on Friday. Her first child, Umaira, is aged one-and-a-half.
“The police did not allow his body to be buried here, saying it would create a law and order problem. The police had taken the body from the hospital to a locality near Meerut where he was buried,” said Noor’s elder brother Umar.
He said police were raiding homes in the neighbourhood to pick up Muslim youths. The police on Wednesday afternoon put up posters showing alleged protesters who were involved in stone pelting during protests. The images have been taken from CCTV footage. The posters have been put up in Muslim neighbourhoods requesting people to identify the suspects.
Rehan Khan, a social worker, said people were holding a peaceful protest in the afternoon on Friday when some RSS supporters pelted stones at them. Some of the youths retaliated and threw stones and then the police started firing tear gas shells and bullets, leading to violence in which four to five vehicles were torched.
“Why is violence taking place during protests only in UP? Some miscreants and outsiders are involved and they have the patronage of police,” Khan said.
He said Muslim neighbourhoods were being targeted to send out a chilling message.
“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath spoke about taking revenge against protesters and this is what his police are doing. The systematic attack is targeted at Muslims who protested against the new law and the brutalisation is aimed at chilling Muslims into silence and scare them so that they don’t speak out for their rights,” Khan said.
He said parts of Bijnor, Kanpur and Meerut had also witnessed similar brutality by the police. “Muslims are living in fear everywhere in UP. The assault is part of a bigger plan to subjugate them. They do not want Muslims to assert their rights if they want to live here,” he said.
Hasan said he was assaulted with rifle butt
By Imran Ahmed Siddiqui in Muzaffarnagar
No septuagenarian wails before a stranger without reason.
Haji Hamid Hasan, a 72-year-old timber trader in Muzaffarnagar town in western Uttar Pradesh, said nearly 30 policemen, some in plainclothes, broke into his two-storey house around 11pm on Friday and went on the rampage.
Hasan said he was assaulted with a rifle butt when he protested and beaten with sticks. They vandalised the house, breaking washbasins, bathroom fittings, bed, furniture, fridge, washing machine and utensils, he added.
“I cried and begged for mercy but they were very brutal. They told me Muslims have only two places, Pakistan or Kabristan,” he wailed while showing the scene of destruction inside his house and the injury on his leg.
Like most mohallas in India, elders take the lead during protests to ensure that they do not spin out of control and descend into violence. Hasan had done the same thing last Friday during protests against the amended citizenship act and the National Register of Citizens.
The horror, he said, continued for 30 to 40 minutes. “After destroying everything, they looted at gunpoint jewellery and cash of Rs 5 lakh kept in the almirah. I recently bought the jewellery for the weddings of my two grand-daughters,” Hasan said.
Hasan said his wife Fatima had holed up in a room with their two granddaughters, Ruqaiya Parveen, a postgraduate in science, and Mubashira Parveen, a graduate.
The intruders hurled abuses at the women, beat up Hasan’s son Md Shahid and took him away, he said.
Hasan said his only crime was that he and his son had participated in the protests after the Friday prayers.
“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is taking revenge and his policemen are targeting Muslims for participating in the protests. India is no longer the same country where I was born. My parents had rejected Jinnah’s Pakistan and embraced Gandhi’s India but this government has made us pariahs,” Hasan said, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Picking up the wedding cards of his two granddaughters — the weddings are scheduled for February 4 next year — he mumbled: “Modiji, you always tell people beti padhao, beti bachao but your policemen raided my house like criminals, abused them and looted their jewellery. They vandalised the furniture, beds, washing machines, fridge, air-conditioners, smart TVs I had bought as their wedding gifts. Are you listening?”
The aged citizen broke into a wail again.
When he regained composure, he said: “I was asleep with my eight-year-old grandson when I heard a loud thud on the main door. When I came near the gate, I noticed several people banging on the door repeatedly. I kept quiet but after a while they broke open the door with a hammer.”
He said the policemen had removed their name badges and several of them were in civilian clothes.
Shahid, his son, is still in police custody and he has been charged with rioting. “I met him and he said the cops asked him to hold a gun and then took his photo,” Hasan said.
Senior police officers in Muzaffarnagar refused comment when asked about the allegations listed by Hasan. “The police are only going to the houses of rioters who had taken part in the violence,” said a sub-inspector at Muzaffarnagar police station.
When this correspondent called Uttar Pradesh director-general of police O.P. Singh on his mobile phone, an aide took the call and said: “Sir is busy in a meeting. Please tell me whatever you want to say and I will convey him your message.”
Told about the alleged atrocities and vandalism by the police, the aide said: “This is completely untrue. The police have not vandalised any home. Our senior officials are monitoring the situation. The police are only taking action against rioters.”
A kilometre away, two cars of former Congress MP Saiduzzaman Saeed lay gutted in his farmhouse. His son Salman accused the police and local RSS foot soldiers of indulging in the violence. “It was a peaceful protest organised after the Friday prayers. Some RSS supporters in connivance with the police entered my farmhouse at 6pm and were involved in arson,” he said.
His farmhouse is around 800 metres from his house in the town.
He alleged that local RSS supporters opened fire on Muslim protesters and later broke into Muslim households and shops and looted their belongings.
“Their ulterior motive was to create a communal riot again to divide people,” Salman said.
His guard at the farmhouse, Bharat Ram, was witness to the arson.
“Policemen, along with some civilians, entered inside and ran amok, setting the four cars parked inside on fire and even went inside the stable where they hit one of the horses on its leg with a stick. They caught hold of me but let me off when I revealed my identity,” he said.
A little farther in the neighbourhood, Haji Akbar’s house is witness to the vandalism.
Broken pieces of washbasins, furniture, fridge and utensils were strewn all over.
“Cops along with some people in mufti barged into my house and vandalised everything on Friday evening. They were armed with lathis and rods and hurled abuses at women. When I went to the police station to lodge a complaint, they threatened to implicate me in rioting cases. They abused and pushed me when I requested them to help me meet senior police officials,” he said.
Shanno, 19, who is seven-months pregnant, wept inconsolably, holding the photo of her husband Noor Mohammad, 26, a hawker. He died of bullet injury in the violence on Friday. Her first child, Umaira, is aged one-and-a-half.
“The police did not allow his body to be buried here, saying it would create a law and order problem. The police had taken the body from the hospital to a locality near Meerut where he was buried,” said Noor’s elder brother Umar.
He said police were raiding homes in the neighbourhood to pick up Muslim youths. The police on Wednesday afternoon put up posters showing alleged protesters who were involved in stone pelting during protests. The images have been taken from CCTV footage. The posters have been put up in Muslim neighbourhoods requesting people to identify the suspects.
Rehan Khan, a social worker, said people were holding a peaceful protest in the afternoon on Friday when some RSS supporters pelted stones at them. Some of the youths retaliated and threw stones and then the police started firing tear gas shells and bullets, leading to violence in which four to five vehicles were torched.
“Why is violence taking place during protests only in UP? Some miscreants and outsiders are involved and they have the patronage of police,” Khan said.
He said Muslim neighbourhoods were being targeted to send out a chilling message.
“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath spoke about taking revenge against protesters and this is what his police are doing. The systematic attack is targeted at Muslims who protested against the new law and the brutalisation is aimed at chilling Muslims into silence and scare them so that they don’t speak out for their rights,” Khan said.
He said parts of Bijnor, Kanpur and Meerut had also witnessed similar brutality by the police. “Muslims are living in fear everywhere in UP. The assault is part of a bigger plan to subjugate them. They do not want Muslims to assert their rights if they want to live here,” he said.
Sarma scales down CAA beneficiaries
Sarma also criticised the artiste fraternity for not condemning the vandalism that took place on December 11
By Rokibuz Zaman in Guwahati
Assam cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the most vocal supporter of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state’s echelons of power, has scaled down the number of CAA beneficiaries from 5.42 lakh to about 4 lakh with a span of nine days.
The “fluctuating” figures dished out by Sarma have prompted the anti-CAA brigade to justify their agitation to check Assam from being swamped by illegal foreigners under the new law which allows religiously persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to apply for citizenship if they have entered India till December 31, 2014.
On Wednesday, at a peace and progress march organised by the ruling BJP at Barpeta Road under Sorbhog Assembly constituency, represented by the party’s state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass, in lower Assam’s Barpeta district, Sarma said, “Those leading the anti-CAA protests are spreading misinformation that crores of Bangladeshis will come to Assam from Bangladesh and get citizenship under the Act. Some are claiming that 1.2 crore will come while others are saying 2.5 crore people will come. But there is no such Hindu population in Bangladesh. A maximum of four lakh people will apply for citizenship through CAA. The number will not go beyond that. But those opposed to CAA are spreading rumours.”
On December 16, Sarma had told reporters here that “only about 5.42 lakh people” would benefit from the new legislation and not 1.5 crore as was being projected by certain quarters. “According to us, 5.42 lakh people will benefit. This is our figure, which will be less when the process starts,” he had said, adding that the figure was based on the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Attacking the anti-CAA brigade on Wednesday, he said, “This agitation will enter the Guinness World Records as one based on misinformation and lies. No new people will come to Assam through the CAA. They are already staying in India, in Assam, and are engaged in various works. Some have also been elected as MLAs. The Congress is responsible for the influx. Not a single person has come (to India) under the Narendra Modi government. The CAA will ensure that only people who came between 1972 and 2014 will get citizenship.”
Sarma also criticised the artiste fraternity for not condemning the vandalism that took place at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, a cultural and tourist hotspot, on December 11.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Debabrata Saikia hit back at Sarma, saying that the fluctuating figures vindicated the stand of the anti-CAA brigade.
“Why are the numbers fluctuating? Sarma and the government are misleading the public by quoting figures that suit them. One day it is 5.5 lakh, another day it is 4 lakh. Where did he get the figure? The chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) says the number is minimal. But we want to know where did he get the numbers? As far as we know, the Supreme Court has not released any figure based on religion. The apex court should take note of this. Figures cannot change reality. We are against illegal foreigners and we want CAA to be scrapped,” he said.
Saikia said according to associations representing the refugees, about 3.5 crore Hindu Bengalis, mostly settled in Bengal, Assam and Tripura, will benefit. “Sarma says his figure is based on NRC data but what about those who have not applied? We stand by the cut-off date of March 24, 1971 in the Assam Accord. We stand vindicated. This agitation has to continue peacefully till the unconstitutional law is scrapped,” he added.
The final National Register of Citizens (NRC), released on August 31 this year, had excluded 19.6 lakh applicants.
Sarma also criticised the artiste fraternity for not condemning the vandalism that took place on December 11
By Rokibuz Zaman in Guwahati
Assam cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the most vocal supporter of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state’s echelons of power, has scaled down the number of CAA beneficiaries from 5.42 lakh to about 4 lakh with a span of nine days.
The “fluctuating” figures dished out by Sarma have prompted the anti-CAA brigade to justify their agitation to check Assam from being swamped by illegal foreigners under the new law which allows religiously persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to apply for citizenship if they have entered India till December 31, 2014.
On Wednesday, at a peace and progress march organised by the ruling BJP at Barpeta Road under Sorbhog Assembly constituency, represented by the party’s state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass, in lower Assam’s Barpeta district, Sarma said, “Those leading the anti-CAA protests are spreading misinformation that crores of Bangladeshis will come to Assam from Bangladesh and get citizenship under the Act. Some are claiming that 1.2 crore will come while others are saying 2.5 crore people will come. But there is no such Hindu population in Bangladesh. A maximum of four lakh people will apply for citizenship through CAA. The number will not go beyond that. But those opposed to CAA are spreading rumours.”
On December 16, Sarma had told reporters here that “only about 5.42 lakh people” would benefit from the new legislation and not 1.5 crore as was being projected by certain quarters. “According to us, 5.42 lakh people will benefit. This is our figure, which will be less when the process starts,” he had said, adding that the figure was based on the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Attacking the anti-CAA brigade on Wednesday, he said, “This agitation will enter the Guinness World Records as one based on misinformation and lies. No new people will come to Assam through the CAA. They are already staying in India, in Assam, and are engaged in various works. Some have also been elected as MLAs. The Congress is responsible for the influx. Not a single person has come (to India) under the Narendra Modi government. The CAA will ensure that only people who came between 1972 and 2014 will get citizenship.”
Sarma also criticised the artiste fraternity for not condemning the vandalism that took place at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, a cultural and tourist hotspot, on December 11.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Debabrata Saikia hit back at Sarma, saying that the fluctuating figures vindicated the stand of the anti-CAA brigade.
“Why are the numbers fluctuating? Sarma and the government are misleading the public by quoting figures that suit them. One day it is 5.5 lakh, another day it is 4 lakh. Where did he get the figure? The chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) says the number is minimal. But we want to know where did he get the numbers? As far as we know, the Supreme Court has not released any figure based on religion. The apex court should take note of this. Figures cannot change reality. We are against illegal foreigners and we want CAA to be scrapped,” he said.
Saikia said according to associations representing the refugees, about 3.5 crore Hindu Bengalis, mostly settled in Bengal, Assam and Tripura, will benefit. “Sarma says his figure is based on NRC data but what about those who have not applied? We stand by the cut-off date of March 24, 1971 in the Assam Accord. We stand vindicated. This agitation has to continue peacefully till the unconstitutional law is scrapped,” he added.
The final National Register of Citizens (NRC), released on August 31 this year, had excluded 19.6 lakh applicants.
A date with CAA protests via Tinder
Akhil Kadidal, Bengaluru, DH News Service
Faced with a crackdown on Facebook and Instagram by authorities, student-activists have now turned to the dating app, Tinder, to mobilise protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Amulya Leona (19), a Bengaluru-based student said that she first had the idea to use Tinder after her protest-themed account on Instagram was taken down. The account had been used to mobilise people for the December 19 protest at the Town Hall.
When she created a new account called Bangalore_Protest on December 20, it was blocked almost immediately. “That was when I had the idea of migrating my activism to Tinder,” she said.
“The reasoning behind this is that if you have an Instagram account linked to your Tinder account, a lot of men will end up coming to your Instagram account to sometimes send creepy messages. I decided to use this to make people more aware of anti-CAA protests,” she added.
While she had been uploading protest banners on her Tinder account since December 15, Amulya said that she began to escalate the uploads after the December 19 protest. “We saw a substantial increase in the number of people turning up at these protests,” she said.
However, by Wednesday morning, the Tinder account had also been blocked.
Other activists, speaking on the condition of anonymity reported similar problems.
t there are now obstacles in that path.
Akhil Kadidal, Bengaluru, DH News Service
Faced with a crackdown on Facebook and Instagram by authorities, student-activists have now turned to the dating app, Tinder, to mobilise protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Amulya Leona (19), a Bengaluru-based student said that she first had the idea to use Tinder after her protest-themed account on Instagram was taken down. The account had been used to mobilise people for the December 19 protest at the Town Hall.
When she created a new account called Bangalore_Protest on December 20, it was blocked almost immediately. “That was when I had the idea of migrating my activism to Tinder,” she said.
“The reasoning behind this is that if you have an Instagram account linked to your Tinder account, a lot of men will end up coming to your Instagram account to sometimes send creepy messages. I decided to use this to make people more aware of anti-CAA protests,” she added.
While she had been uploading protest banners on her Tinder account since December 15, Amulya said that she began to escalate the uploads after the December 19 protest. “We saw a substantial increase in the number of people turning up at these protests,” she said.
However, by Wednesday morning, the Tinder account had also been blocked.
Other activists, speaking on the condition of anonymity reported similar problems.
t there are now obstacles in that path.
4 ways the CAA protests have already been a success
Mihir Swarup Sharma
In cities large and small across this vast country, young Indians have erupted in protest. They have marched in anger, in frustration, and in solidarity. Some demonstrations have turned violent, but the vast majority are meant merely as expressions of patriotism - of belief in a better India. Most understand the stakes: The CAB and the NRC together have opened up the nightmarish possibility that Muslims across India will be forced to prove their citizenship, and that they will have no recourse if they fail to do so.
Naturally, as is only right and appropriate, many in these gatherings are from Muslim backgrounds. But the bigots will be disappointed that so many of their fellow Indians of other faiths, or of no faith at all, have come out in support. Even some cynical liberals - in which awful number you should probably count this writer - might confess to being pleasantly surprised.
These protests are spontaneous. There is no political party behind them; no clever organisers are pulling the strings; no single figurehead is sitting on a stage and fasting. This is indeed, why they are remarkable. But, enthused though I am by the sight of so many people standing up for what is right, such energy is very difficult to sustain in the absence of any organised backbone.
Is that what the government wants? Does it hope that if it just rides out this period, this too will be forgotten, as students go back home and people are forced to return to work? Perhaps. For the protestors, the lesson must surely be to keep pushing as long as they can. Even without an organisation, protests last longer when they have a specific purpose in mind, a clear endgame. So the protestors should ask for a specific promise: the repeal of the CAB, perhaps, and a public commitment from the Prime Minister to not force a national NRC.
On some levels, the protests are already proving to be a success. First, they provide unexpected and unasked-for strength to India's besieged minorities who have long thought their compatriots had abandoned them. It would have been both wrong and unwise to leave these Indians bereft and alienated for much longer. Now, at least, Muslims know that there are many still willing to put themselves on the line for India's beleaguered secularism.
Second, the next generation of middle-class Indians are being politicised. The Modi mystique depends upon universal adulation among the young. This is difficult to pull off when some young people are laughing at you and others are booing. Leaders like Modi - people who seek to embody the entire nation - typically know the importance of every citizen feeling that the leader understands and listens to them. In this case, Modi has not managed that. Those among the protestors who might have soured on the government form a small group as compared to the hundreds of millions who still admire the Prime Minister. But is an influential group. These are tomorrow's taste-makers and leaders: The future writers, scholars, artists and executives that, till yesterday, the government could have assumed would quietly become the building blocks of the Hindu Rashtra.
Third, the clever trap that they set for dissenters, especially Muslims, seems to have caught nobody. Some protests have turned violent - and were immediately seized upon by the prime minister, who directed his audience to the "clothes" of the protestors, by which he meant that Those Muslims Were Rioting Again. But the fact is that the number of non-violent protests far outweighs the violence; and anyone who has seen images with skullcaps or headscarves scattered here and there in those large, peaceful crowds knows better than to assume that rioting is what India's minorities truly want to do with their lives. Yes, the media will continue to push the government's agenda. "Journalists" on some news channels happily play grainy clips of violence over and over and literally, without any basis, identify the perpetrators as "Bangladeshis". (Why even have an NRC? Just ask these journalists.) But there are enough images of Gandhian and Ambedkarite resistance for that narrative to stumble.
Is that why the government is so desperate in its provocations, and why its reaction has been so intense? Allow large peaceful protests, and all of India will see that they have nothing to fear except for these awful laws. The cities with no crackdowns have seen large peaceful demonstrations. But if you announce prohibitory orders, lathi-charge crowds, beat up students, detain elderly intellectuals, push demonstrators on to buses - then surely these large angry crowds will not be able to retain their calm? And even if they do, if you shut down public transport, arbitrarily block highways and force the cancellation of flights - that will cause people to blame the disruption on the protestors, won't it? Can anyone provide a cogent explanation for the strange difference between how BJP and non-BJP ruled states have approached this apparently dire threat to law and order?
And fourth, the government has not won yet another battle without a shot being fired, metaphorically or literally. Earlier protests against rural distress, land acquisition, and so forth could be shrugged off as inevitable under any government. So far, all its big unique and ideological moves, from demonetisation to Article 370, have led to grumbling but not to mobilisation. Everything looked impossible, till it was done - and then the public acceptance made it look inevitable. They could have been pardoned for feeling that they truly understood the people in a way that no other leaders of India ever have. This myth has now been exploded. Perhaps, the next time they move forward on the RSS' long-standing agenda of change, there might well be a certain more humility and more careful calculation of what the country's response might be. They have not been convinced to turn back, but at least they will look down as they walk. We may still be drifting towards a dystopia of detention camps, ghettoes, violence and perpetual poverty - but at least there are now obstacles in that path.
Mihir Swarup Sharma
In cities large and small across this vast country, young Indians have erupted in protest. They have marched in anger, in frustration, and in solidarity. Some demonstrations have turned violent, but the vast majority are meant merely as expressions of patriotism - of belief in a better India. Most understand the stakes: The CAB and the NRC together have opened up the nightmarish possibility that Muslims across India will be forced to prove their citizenship, and that they will have no recourse if they fail to do so.
Naturally, as is only right and appropriate, many in these gatherings are from Muslim backgrounds. But the bigots will be disappointed that so many of their fellow Indians of other faiths, or of no faith at all, have come out in support. Even some cynical liberals - in which awful number you should probably count this writer - might confess to being pleasantly surprised.
These protests are spontaneous. There is no political party behind them; no clever organisers are pulling the strings; no single figurehead is sitting on a stage and fasting. This is indeed, why they are remarkable. But, enthused though I am by the sight of so many people standing up for what is right, such energy is very difficult to sustain in the absence of any organised backbone.
Is that what the government wants? Does it hope that if it just rides out this period, this too will be forgotten, as students go back home and people are forced to return to work? Perhaps. For the protestors, the lesson must surely be to keep pushing as long as they can. Even without an organisation, protests last longer when they have a specific purpose in mind, a clear endgame. So the protestors should ask for a specific promise: the repeal of the CAB, perhaps, and a public commitment from the Prime Minister to not force a national NRC.
On some levels, the protests are already proving to be a success. First, they provide unexpected and unasked-for strength to India's besieged minorities who have long thought their compatriots had abandoned them. It would have been both wrong and unwise to leave these Indians bereft and alienated for much longer. Now, at least, Muslims know that there are many still willing to put themselves on the line for India's beleaguered secularism.
Second, the next generation of middle-class Indians are being politicised. The Modi mystique depends upon universal adulation among the young. This is difficult to pull off when some young people are laughing at you and others are booing. Leaders like Modi - people who seek to embody the entire nation - typically know the importance of every citizen feeling that the leader understands and listens to them. In this case, Modi has not managed that. Those among the protestors who might have soured on the government form a small group as compared to the hundreds of millions who still admire the Prime Minister. But is an influential group. These are tomorrow's taste-makers and leaders: The future writers, scholars, artists and executives that, till yesterday, the government could have assumed would quietly become the building blocks of the Hindu Rashtra.
Third, the clever trap that they set for dissenters, especially Muslims, seems to have caught nobody. Some protests have turned violent - and were immediately seized upon by the prime minister, who directed his audience to the "clothes" of the protestors, by which he meant that Those Muslims Were Rioting Again. But the fact is that the number of non-violent protests far outweighs the violence; and anyone who has seen images with skullcaps or headscarves scattered here and there in those large, peaceful crowds knows better than to assume that rioting is what India's minorities truly want to do with their lives. Yes, the media will continue to push the government's agenda. "Journalists" on some news channels happily play grainy clips of violence over and over and literally, without any basis, identify the perpetrators as "Bangladeshis". (Why even have an NRC? Just ask these journalists.) But there are enough images of Gandhian and Ambedkarite resistance for that narrative to stumble.
Is that why the government is so desperate in its provocations, and why its reaction has been so intense? Allow large peaceful protests, and all of India will see that they have nothing to fear except for these awful laws. The cities with no crackdowns have seen large peaceful demonstrations. But if you announce prohibitory orders, lathi-charge crowds, beat up students, detain elderly intellectuals, push demonstrators on to buses - then surely these large angry crowds will not be able to retain their calm? And even if they do, if you shut down public transport, arbitrarily block highways and force the cancellation of flights - that will cause people to blame the disruption on the protestors, won't it? Can anyone provide a cogent explanation for the strange difference between how BJP and non-BJP ruled states have approached this apparently dire threat to law and order?
And fourth, the government has not won yet another battle without a shot being fired, metaphorically or literally. Earlier protests against rural distress, land acquisition, and so forth could be shrugged off as inevitable under any government. So far, all its big unique and ideological moves, from demonetisation to Article 370, have led to grumbling but not to mobilisation. Everything looked impossible, till it was done - and then the public acceptance made it look inevitable. They could have been pardoned for feeling that they truly understood the people in a way that no other leaders of India ever have. This myth has now been exploded. Perhaps, the next time they move forward on the RSS' long-standing agenda of change, there might well be a certain more humility and more careful calculation of what the country's response might be. They have not been convinced to turn back, but at least they will look down as they walk. We may still be drifting towards a dystopia of detention camps, ghettoes, violence and perpetual poverty - but at least there are now obstacles in that path.
The Daily Fix: BJP leaders are keeping CAA protests on the boil with prejudiced comments
Instead of trying to heal the wounds inflicted on Muslims by the new citizenship law, ruling party leaders are rubbing salt on them.
For a fortnight, India has been shaken up by protests against the new Citizenship Amendment Act. Some of these protests have been marked by violence and police brutality. Eighteen people have died in Uttar Pradesh alone. Many of the injured in hospital bear bullet wounds. Across Uttar Pradesh, Muslim families have lost a lifetime of accumulation as the police barged into their homes, destroying vehicles and television sets and other expensive household items, assaulting residents at random – even those who did not participate in protests.
With the country on the boil, one would expect politicians of any ruling party to act responsibly. But the Bharatiya Janata Party does not seem to understand this.
Last week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath warned that “revenge will be taken” on those who destroyed public property during protests. His government has started issuing notices to recover damages from alleged miscreants based on a flawed 2010 order of the Allahabad High Court. However, no action has been initiated against police personnel who have been caught on scores of videos wantonly destroying private property.
This official action aside, BJP leaders have continued to make reckless comments that are adding to the intense feeling of alienation that the Muslim community is experiencing after the passage of a law that discriminates against them on the basis of their religious identity.
On Monday, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya described those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act as “ illiterate puncture shop walas”, a derogatory reference to Muslims.
In Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told a rally called to support the Citizenship Amendment Act that while Hindus had one only India to call their home, Muslims have 150 countries to live in. Given that the prospect of a nationwide National Register of Citizens has heightened the fears of Muslims that they will be targeted with deportation orders, statements of this sort are calculated to exacerbate the community’s anxieties.
Worse was the comment of Haryana BJP MLA Leela Ram Gurjar. A video clip of his public speech that went viral on social media on Wednesday showed the legislator stating that those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens could be “wiped out” within an hour.
If the BJP wants the protests to stop, it should first listen to the voices those who have risked their lives by taking to the streets in the face of police brutality. Such reckless comments by its leaders demonstrate either the complicity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s leadership or their complete loss of control over their colleagues. Either situation is alarming.
Instead of trying to heal the wounds inflicted on Muslims by the new citizenship law, ruling party leaders are rubbing salt on them.
For a fortnight, India has been shaken up by protests against the new Citizenship Amendment Act. Some of these protests have been marked by violence and police brutality. Eighteen people have died in Uttar Pradesh alone. Many of the injured in hospital bear bullet wounds. Across Uttar Pradesh, Muslim families have lost a lifetime of accumulation as the police barged into their homes, destroying vehicles and television sets and other expensive household items, assaulting residents at random – even those who did not participate in protests.
With the country on the boil, one would expect politicians of any ruling party to act responsibly. But the Bharatiya Janata Party does not seem to understand this.
Last week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath warned that “revenge will be taken” on those who destroyed public property during protests. His government has started issuing notices to recover damages from alleged miscreants based on a flawed 2010 order of the Allahabad High Court. However, no action has been initiated against police personnel who have been caught on scores of videos wantonly destroying private property.
This official action aside, BJP leaders have continued to make reckless comments that are adding to the intense feeling of alienation that the Muslim community is experiencing after the passage of a law that discriminates against them on the basis of their religious identity.
On Monday, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya described those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act as “ illiterate puncture shop walas”, a derogatory reference to Muslims.
In Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told a rally called to support the Citizenship Amendment Act that while Hindus had one only India to call their home, Muslims have 150 countries to live in. Given that the prospect of a nationwide National Register of Citizens has heightened the fears of Muslims that they will be targeted with deportation orders, statements of this sort are calculated to exacerbate the community’s anxieties.
Worse was the comment of Haryana BJP MLA Leela Ram Gurjar. A video clip of his public speech that went viral on social media on Wednesday showed the legislator stating that those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens could be “wiped out” within an hour.
If the BJP wants the protests to stop, it should first listen to the voices those who have risked their lives by taking to the streets in the face of police brutality. Such reckless comments by its leaders demonstrate either the complicity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s leadership or their complete loss of control over their colleagues. Either situation is alarming.
Lmao people think entitled papa k paris who can't cook gobi can cook up a revolution. The only problem is putting down the jihadis, rest are just students chaff who sing shitty Bella Ciao renditions and post carefully crafted stories of how Anwar chacha gave them free tea while they were protesting and nothing more.
Don't @ me, I'm from a liberal left university in a liberal left city with huge Muslim populace and 98% of my class has been protesting. I know what I'm talking about.
Don't @ me, I'm from a liberal left university in a liberal left city with huge Muslim populace and 98% of my class has been protesting. I know what I'm talking about.
