Arrest of students and social activists with sedition charges on some of them, many believe, forms the establishment’s bid to use the national lockdown to silence the critics or settle scores with the anti-CAA protesters.
At a time when it is required to fight collectively the most dangerous pandemic on the face of the earth the government is selectively targeting social activists and students to silence the critics who were at forefront during anti-CAA protests. Such a campaign may vitiate the atmosphere of togetherness after the pandemic and may further hamper our fight against this deadly disease.
It is important to note that when people by and large are displaying a sense of togetherness, double standard of our political leaders has come to the fore because their declaration at the national level does not match with their action on the ground. Instead of chasing the social activists and student leaders the establishment should have focused on the need of the hour to unite people for the big mission to fight the pandemic and win the battle effectively.
Ravi Nair, Director, South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, while reacting on the sedition charges against Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, told Radiance, “Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan had to go if both the Union Home Ministry and the Delhi Government have to change the narrative on the Delhi riots. He was the only Chairperson of a statutory commission, the Delhi Minority Commission (DMC) in the country who was speaking out on atrocities being committed against Muslims. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Minorities Commission (NMC) have proved through their conduct that they are poodles. The arrests of the Muslim activists from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia were the first move in this nefarious plot by the Intelligence agencies to change the narrative that Muslims were the instigators of the riots and not its victims.
“Having secured the overwhelming majority of the Muslim vote, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, who masqueraded earlier as a moral man has revealed himself to be no better than any other fellow traveller of Hindutva. From newspaper reports, the charges against Dr Khan are ridiculous. Amit Shah and Kejriwal want to get rid of Dr Khan. He has been too outspoken. The media campaign was to get him to resign. Dr Khan’s measured response was evidence that he was not going to oblige them. Dismissing him is also not an option as the present DMC Act does not lend itself to it without it facing a robust legal challenge. The police will now continue to harass Dr Khan. The Delhi Government will not renew his mandate when it comes up for renewal in July 2020. The games that North Block and the Delhi Secretariat play are many and varied.”
Sharing his point of view on the issue, Dr. Maskoor Ahmad Usmani, former President, AMUSU told Radiance, “The heinous charges of sedition on the chairman of Delhi minority commission and other lethal charges against the Muslim students in the nation is a complete assault on the foundational values of the constitution of the republic. This is a strategic pattern of hate and injustices being made against the Muslim activists as well as the students who are taking the helm of dissenting in the country. Last year, in Aligarh, I was slapped with sedition charges having been found with no credible charges and acquisitions; the ironical arbitration of the use of power is I was not even there at Aligarh for the cause they slapped charges of seditions against me.
“This only didn’t stop here, it has gone beneath the new level of pinpointing Muslims. Recently Twitter has been targeting Muslim activists, and their right to expression is being stifled by this social media company; their twitter accounts are being suspended with no cause and said cognitive reasons. It’s just disparaging and deplorable. The entire nation knows, the rule of law is breaking its breath and its attachment with its citizens. The real culprits of all those heinous crimes are walking freely, and might have been cracking joke behind the curtain of safe zone created by the administration.”
Usmani added, “This will distort the entire image of rule of law and the philosophy of belief in the concept of justice in the country.”
However on the reports doing round in the media that he has apologised, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, Chairman Delhi Minority Commission, has clarified by saying, “It has been erroneously reported in a section of media that I have apologised for the tweet and deleted it. I have not apologised for the tweet and have not deleted it. I have apologised not for the tweet itself but because it was ill-timed and insensitive in the midst of a medical emergency faced by our country. The tweet is very much there on my twitter handle and facebook page. Moreover, I have said in my 1 May 2020 statement that I stand by my views and convictions. I will continue, now and in future, the fight against hate politics in the country. FIRs, arrests and imprisonments do not change this path which I have chosen consciously to save my country, my people and the Indian secular polity and the Constitution.”
John Dayal, a noted social and human rights activist, said, “It is really shameful how the government is targeting Dr Zafarul Islam, the Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission. I have known Ziks for thirty years, and his revered father for fifty years. His is a family of scholars whose loyalty to India and its ethos cannot ever be doubted. His statements, his writings bear witness to that. As Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, he has rendered exemplary service to the minorities in the capital city. His is the only voice among those holding any public office that has dared challenge excesses which happen often in Delhi where the municipalities and the police are run either by the union home minister or the party overlords, and the streets run by the RSS in many areas. There is a design to target him.
“We should welcome the world to inspect how we treat our women, our Dalits, our tribals, our poor, our religious minorities, because then it would show that we have nothing to hide, and are taking care of all of them to the best of our capability. India should, and does, speak out when Pakistan ill-treats its Hindus, Sikhs and Christians. The government, the ruling party and the RSS keep an eagle eye even on how Indians who have American or European passports, are treated in their countries. It is shameful how childish has been India’s response to the USCIRF report. India is among the few countries in the world – they may include North Korea, perhaps – which fight shy of giving visas to many UN special rapporteurs on human rights, and persecute human rights groups such as Amnesty,” said Dayal.