Though tactically refrained from elaborating his concept towards the protester, he has not been hiding his contempt towards them. Through his remarks and utterances he makes it explicit that he hates the participants as they were Muslims and anathema to the ideologies of Sangh and BJP. But his party MP P K Verma does not hesitate in announcing at the top of his voice that Shaheen Bagh is Pakistan and the agitation is aimed against India. Borrowing the perception and idea from Shah the union state minister Anurag Thakur provokes the participants at a public meeting to shoot down the protesters.

It was certainly not coincidence that the very next day of the provocations of Shah and Thakur a RSS cadres fires at the peaceful demonstrators near Jamia Milia. He flashes his pistol in public in presence of police, but the Delhi Police does not dare to take on him directly.

The Delhi Police which functions under the control of the Union Home Ministry prefers to shut its eyes and ears. Its passive stance is quite ominous and intriguing. The same police arrested Chandrasekhar Azad from the stairs of Jama Masjid on the charge of leading the students agitating against CAA.

It has been nearly 40 days and the occupation of Shaheen Bagh has become the prime metaphor of a national movement against the Modi government’s tinkering with India’s citizenship laws that threaten to make many Indian Muslims stateless. Surprisingly Shah even after being Home Minister of Indians as a whole does feel shy in speaking against the Muslims. He is above all such niceties. His tactics behind this insinuation against the Shaheen Bagh protesters was as a shrewd move to level the Muslim women as pro-Pakistan. This has been the most ridiculous tactics.

Before Shaheen Bagh the protest had not succeeded in making an all India presence. The women of Shaheen Bagh screamed so loudly that the entire country heard their voice. It is inspiring. It is soul-stirring. It is life re-affirming. But in their pursuit to malign the protesters, the BJP leaders missed on major occasion to witness the emergence of a new woman who is assertive and will bring the Hindu and Muslims closer in nation building. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they represent modern India’s Muslims? Protest against CAA has unmasked a new dynamics of Indian politics.

“Hindustan ek bagh hai aur hum usske Shaheen hai,” says a hand-made poster on the background of the stage. India is a garden and we are its Shaheen. Sooner Modi and Shah realise it would better for them. Shaheen the falcon is native to South Asia and is a non-migratory bird. The fact is: “Shaheen Bagh is no longer just Shaheen Bagh, it is Hindustan.”

In the backdrop of regressive measures adopted the Modi government to suppress the anti-citizenship movement Shaheen Bagh has descended as the life saving medicine which has been inspiring the people of this country. Throughout there reverberates a slogan: Jamia ki ladkiyon ne raasta dikhaya hai. (The Jamia girls have shown the way.)

Yet another important feature has been Shaheen Bagh has reclaimed the Tricolour from the ‘Sanghis’. Tiranga, the national flag symbolises the nationalisation of the protest. Women in hijab and burqa are now using tiranga to fight ugly machinations of the Saffronistas. Modi can no more differentiate from the clothes of the protesters.

It cannot be denied that in coming days THE saffron brigade may turn more aggressive and resort to violence. They are aware with state machinery under their control they would succeed in silencing the protester. This is manifest from the utterances and speeches of the senior BJP leaders. They have been candid in their assertion that they would concede an inch to the protesters. They are ready to fight till the end. It is not that protesters are unaware of this design of the BJP. In fact some posters at Shaheen Bagh ask: “Will you really be happy in Hindu Rashtra?”

To break the morale of the fighting women, BJP has been resorting to all kind of nefarious activities. The latest has been visiting the place by two senior TV editors who have been systematically insinuating them. They have become the icons of the modern day non-violent protest. Their strategy has provided a new dimension to the strategy to counter the Modi-Shah assault on democracy.

May be the major contingent of participants have been the Muslim women. But undeniably they are not protesting because their religion is in danger, but for the reason the Indian Constitution is endangered. Credit must go to them for inspiring millions of youths and students to recite the preamble of Constitution not only in India but in countries abroad. This has acquired the revered status of Bhagwad Geeta. Before launch of Shaheen Bagh the words secularism, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity mentioned in the preamble appeared to be just words. But now they are any religious verse.

What is now quite interesting has been the people, especially the women have not been caring for the diktats of their religious leaders like Ahmad Bukhari (Imam, Delhi’s Shahi Jama Masjid), Maulana Mahmood Madani (general secretary, Jamiat-ul-ulema Hind), Sayed Zainul Hussain Chisti (dewan, Ajmer dargah), Kalbe Jawad (Shia leader). They have suggesting the women to stay at home as they have nothing to fear from the CAA-NPR-NRC process. But these ladies are not willing to listen. (IPA Service)