
5 years passed since the fascist attack on Jamia campus was unleashed by the Indian state. No one can forget the date, 15th December, 2019, on which, the police entered the campus without any approval of the admin and vandalized the library, brutally attacked students and even opened fire in front of the campus. It was from there, the historical people’s upsurge, the movement against CAA-NRC-NPR stood up at Shaheen Bagh and the whole country echoed the voice of the students and people from Jamia and Shaheen Bagh and came to the streets rejecting CAA-NRC-NPR.
On 11th December, 2019, the bill was passed in Rajya Sabha and CAA came into being on 12th December, 2019, with the assent of the President of India. The act provides citizenship for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who escaped to India from religious persecution in Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before December 31, 2014. The RSS propaganda machine, while on one hand said, “We are not snatching anyone’s citizenship, we are just providing.”, on the other hand, the RSS-BJP leaders gave an open call to kick out those “Muslims who came from outside, illegally”.
While the act is notorious for destroying the basic structure of the constitution by making religion as a basis for citizenship, the act is deliberately silent about the Rohingya Muslims and Tamils, who came to India as a result of religious and linguistic persecution in Myanmar and Sri Lanka respectively. And what about the people who are not able to prove their citizenship, even after being born and raised up in India? The Assam experience with regards to NRC itself proved how harsh the reality is, cutting across all religions. In fact, CAA is a weapon for RSS to spread Islamophobia and transform India into the fascist Hindu Rashtra. This project is an organized massacre of the oppressed people of India.
Even before the act was passed, the bill was vehemently opposed by the people. When the act was passed, the students of Jamia planned a peaceful march to Jantar Mantar from the campus. On 13th December, 2019, the students were stopped by the police and were brutally beaten up. The march, which was supposed to take place on 13th got postponed to 15th December. On 15th December, the situation escalated to an extreme level as the campus was attacked and the library was vandalized by the police and paramilitary forces. Even the police entered girls’ toilets to attack students. The whole campus came out to the streets to resist the attack and raise the slogan to repeal CAA-NRC-NPR.
The Shaheen Bagh movement against CAA-NRC-NPR which started in December, 2019, continued till March, 2020, when lockdown was declared under COVID-19. This was a good opportunity for the fascists to crush the movement under the guise of the pandemic. A lot of students were charged with UAPA and were incarcerated for more than 4 years during the anti-CAA-NRC movement. Especially, in the case of North East Delhi, where the Delhi Pogrom took place in February, 2020. Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-ur-Rehman etc. are all still in jail, as trial prisoners for four years, under the draconian, anti-people, undemocratic UAPA.
Meanwhile, the thirst of the fascists in sucking the blood of the muslims is not over. After more than 4 years of attempts to implement the CAA through backdoors, the government managed to implement it in March, 2024, during the Ramzan month, with the release of the CAA Rules. Advancing a step further, we are witnessing a situation, when the existence of the Masjid itself is being questioned. From Babri to Sambhal, we are witnessing this process.
On the eve of the 5th anniversary of the open terrorist attack by the police and other paramilitary forces on Jamia, not just the memories of repression, but also the repression itself is continuing in a sinister form. The implementation of CAA, incarceration of anti-CAA fighters, curbs on democratic spaces all over the country and Jamia Millia Islamia through institutions like bureaucracy and military forces, tagging Jamia as “anti-national” etc. still continue as a part of their fascist tactics. That’s why, political tasks in front of us are multiple. Demand for democratic spaces in educational institutions, struggle to repeal UAPA and the release of political prisoners, repeal of CAA-NRC-NPR and ultimately, the overthrow of fascists from power are all part of these political tasks that the Shaheen Bagh signifies. The current task in front of us is to ensure that all these demands are fulfilled.
Niranjan K S is convenor of AIRSO and student of BA LLB (H) in Jamia Millia Islamia)