
Aisha, a 7 year old girl living in Khajuri Khas Colony of Delhi, is yearning for a day when like her elder sister Asma, she would also be admitted to a nearby government school.(1)
This possibility is growing dimmer by the day, as the school has refused her admission and asked for Indian documents like Aadhar – which refugees do not possess.
Aisha is the younger daughter of Ahmad, a Rohingya refugee who has finally reached Delhi and has duly received his UNHCR card – which refers to the document issued by the UN refugee agency.
Thanks to the circular issued by Delhi government ( Dec 24) asking schools to ensure strict guidelines during admissions perhaps Aisha will have to remain satisfied with the same private school which lacks facilities.With a drive underway to ensure that children of “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” are not allowed enrolment, Aisha knows very well that her fate is sealed. (2)
It is difficult for her father to explain that while Asma got admission on the UNHCR card but why the rules have been suddenly changed ?
1.
The denial of education to Aisha is just a tip of the iceberg.
Human rights activists in Delhi can share many such examples about this gross injustice being committed towards children of the Rohingyas, the biggest stateless and persecuted minority in the world, who faced genocide in the land of their birth namely Mynamar and were forced to migrate to neighbouring countries. (3)
There are only about 1,100 Rohingya refugees in Delhi.
Assuming that one third of them are of school going age- thus the number of students would be roughly 350 plus.(4) When it comes to government schools in Delhi – the number comes to around 2,400, and for such a large number of schools, the number of Rohingya children which would need admission is miniscule (-do-) This back of the paper calculation is basically to remind everyone about the extent of challenge, and how AAP is in tango with BJP ‘hyping immigrant phobia in Delhi’. (5)
Such denial is a complete violation of Right to Education as a fundamental right mandated by law. Remember under the Congress led UPA government this right has been granted to all citizens of India but also to ‘every person within India’.Under the act the school even can admit wards of what are called as “illegal immigrant” as defined by the Foreigners act 1946 and their wards are entitled to education between ages of 6 and 14 as a matter of right (6)
What is worth emphasising that the said circular issued by the Delhi government was the culmination of an ongoing war of words between AAP and BJP over the issue of “illegal migrants”. The first salvo in this round was fired by V K Saksena, Lt governor of Delhi. He ordered a two month drive against ‘illegal immigrants’ from Bangladesh in Delhi . (7). Undeterred by this AAP also put forward its arguments against Bangladesh immigrants. In her tweet Atishi, Chief Minister of Delhi (8) alleged that BJP is responsible for settling Rohingyas in Delhi and denying Delhi people their rights whereas AAP is more concerned about rights of people of Delhi and would ensure that no Rohingya will be given admission in Delhi’s schools.
One learns that Atishi had taken care to merge Rohingyas with illegal Bangladesh migrants which helped her party AAP to attack the BJP which had once decided to shift Rohingyas into EWS housing project. A project which was shelved when Hindutva organisations attacked the move.
2.
Anyone conversant with BJP and its politics of exclusion knows how its ideological forefathers have visioned about their ‘internal enemies’ and included Muslims, Christians and Communists in that list . One can browse the pages of ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ penned by Golwalkar, the Second Supremo of RSS, where he has provided all these details.
It follows from this understanding why BJP is wary of the “illegal migrants’ but what prompted AAP also to join the chorus ?
Why does not it wants to follow the vision presented to us by founders of our constitution who truly believed in ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ ( The World is a Family)
Whether their valorisation of ideals of Bhagat Singh and Dr Ambedkar is just formal and their thinking has no impact on them. The vengeance with which they talked about Rohingyas or proudly declared that they will ensure that their children willl not receive education reveals their real mindset. Their deliberate silence when the oppressed come under attack is another indication of their problematic worldview.
The fact that there is a convergence of views about ‘illegal migrants’ etc between both the parties means,
One, there is resonance of sorts between their world views or
Two, AAP’s pragmatism drives it towards this exclusivist worldview which then manifests in a manner suitable to it.
For AAP, this means ‘majority community’ is always correct ; it should not be questioned and second, electoral gains are acceptable at the cost of stigmatising a vulnerable community.
No doubt, AAP leadership and its legal eagles would know better about whether their circular suits the statue books or not but more importantly they know that by counterposing the interests of ‘Delhiwalas’ with the tiny number of Rohingya children – the way Chief Minister Atishi did her in tweet (9) the political message can be sent across the political spectrum.
For anyone who has closely watched the emergence of AAP from a movement to bring in a LokPal to curb menace of corruption to a party which has now no qualms even to raise the bogey of “illegal migrants” or cater to the ‘majority anxieties’ or even metamorphosing as a party which is adept at defining things in ‘us’ versus ‘them’ this transformation can look shocking.
With close scrutiny one can discover that there is nothing shocking in its behaviour.
It is just a continuation of how it has viewed politics, how it has looked at social cultural issues like regular pragmatic parties, how it has pandered to ‘majority anxieties’ or how it has dealt with communal organisations.
3.
Remember merely less than a month and half ago Delhi witnessed campaign undertaken by Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal to distribute what it called “legally permissible weapons” in Delhi on election eve.(10) The plan was to distribute 50,000 ‘legally permissible tridents to men after a public meeting. It does not need great wisdom to foresee that any such weapons distribution programme targeting a particular community would be detrimental to the social fabric of the city.
What followed was more worriesome, the campaign to distribute weapons also reached women folk and similar plans were made to distribute daggers among them for ‘self protection’. (-do-) There was no uproar about this campaign to distribute ‘legally permissible weapons’ even in sensitive areas. AAP and its leaders, maintained complete silence about it? Could not they perceive that in a state where elections are being organised all such activities be immediately banned and hatemongers be prosecuted.
Less than three years back Delhi witnessed riots in Jahangirpuri area during a Shobha Yatra taken out during Hanuman Jayanti. (11) It is now history how on the prodding of BJP leaders bulldozers were sent to demolish houses of accused ( all Muslims) people, without any legal orders to do so. The demolitions could be only stopped when Commnist Leader Brinda Karat and few others moved the Supreme Court and challenged the ‘illegal demolitions’
The response of AAP and its leaders was shocking to say the least.
Neither Kejriwal visited the area even a week after the ‘riots flared up’ nor did he condemned the violence holistically. His condemnation was very selective – “[h]e’s criticised the “stone-pelters who attacked the Hindu procession” but not the armed marchers who allegedly chanted provocative religious slogans, some of which have been used in recent years to mock Muslims.” ( 12) Leaders of the party also followed their leader and also avoided the area after the riots (13 )
His one time colleague in the party Ashutosh- who left him long back – and who runs a YouTube channel famously said that Kejriwal lacked the moral courage to speak the truth and he behaved as if he was a Chief Minister of Hindus only ( 12)
What one could see that it was repetition of its strategy to avoid Shaheen Bagh when protests led by Muslim women erupted at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (13). Kejriwal did not take any stand on Shaheen Bagh protest for a long time, but when he found himself cornered in a debate questioned Amit Shah’s inability to clear the road – where the protest was being held – and even declared that “[i]f Delhi police was under the state government’s jurisdiction, it would have opened the Shaheen Bagh road in two hours.”
These details just go to confirm that inadvertently or deliberately Kejriwal has always pandered to the majoritarian sentiment in the society which is prejudiced towards social and religious minorities and refused to criticise them.
4.
Delhi where AAP is ruling since 2013 will be voting for a new assembly on 5 th February, 2025.
Reports say that the contest this time would be triangular, where a resurgent Congress will also try to regain its lost base. There is feeling that this is going to be the toughest battle in AAP’s journey as there is a sense of fatigue among voters about its politics.
Does it have to do with the fact that while it has perfected the system of delivery of goods to people, has subsidised transport or electricity expenses, it has unleashed processes where the citizen finds herself / himself being reduced to a being a ‘Labharthi’ instead of a citizen.
Could one say that it has its genesis in the great hiatus ordinary voters have noticed in its claim of a practitioner of ‘clean politics’ and the way its leaders found themselves getting embroiled in what is called the ‘liquor policy case’ or the tremendou ambiguity it has alway presented vis-a-vis majoritarian politics, opening it to criticism that it is basically a B Team of BJP..
For example, one can have a look at the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and what it did during these celebrations. Indian National Congress, called the Ceremony a political event and despite receiving invitation its top leaders did not attend the programme.
AAP as per reports decided to conduct ‘Shobha Yatra’ and organise community kitchens (Bhandara) and also organise ‘Sunderkand’ recitals in various assembly segments to celebrate the occasion. (14)
What one notices that this pandering to majority sentiments is a significant marker of its decade old politics.
One can even look at his first attempt to fight elections (15)
When the electoral battle started (2014) the party did not field a single candidate from the minority community in Gujarat despite the fact that population of Muslims in Gujarat is more than nine percent. According to the state leadership of the party it did not ‘find any suitable candidate from the community’ to contest elections. Neelanjan Mukhopadhyay – a famous journalist – said that it thus did not challenge the prevalent norm that ‘Muslims are not to be given tickets’ by the mainstream parties. (16).
Perhaps it would be opportune to revisit its electoral victory – a hat-trick of sorts – during elections to Delhi assembly ( 2020) . No doubt BJP had lost the elections but it has also seen a swing of around 8 per cent – not a small number – vote in its favour since the last elections.(2015) This surge in its vote was definitely an outcome of the most ‘vitriolic campaign’ led by it in the history of Delhi.
A journey down memory lane would remind one that never before one had witnessed direct provocation to violence against the ‘others’ which was joined in by Cabinet ministers who had taken oath of the Constitution in (17) or from party leaders in rallies (18). Never before one had seen that elected members of the parliament stigmatising a particular community and provoking the majority sentiment by spewing openly communal rhetoric (19).
Hate speeches by leaders were a common thing but at the ground level much more coarse argument, more poisonous rhetoric targetting the ‘others’ was used on a large scale in much more organised, planned and disciplined manner. The bare argument was that ‘Hindus are in danger’ ( do not ask how and why despite around 85 percent of their population in the country) and if they do not act unitedly ‘the others will take over’.
In the unfolding scenario, it was incumbent upon any political formation – which has the wherewithal and experience even to rule the people -and which does not subscribe to communal worldview to take on the hatemongers and ensuring that laws of the land could be used against them ?
One discoverd that AAP miserably failed to counter this unfolding menace by deciding not to engage in these debates. It found it a worthwhile strategy to keep quiet and merely focus itself on its ‘work’.
Take the case of Kejriwal’s support to abrogation of article 370, or his claims merely few months before elections ( May 2019) to the Parliament when he made statements which were construed as ‘polarising’ ! One can recall when AAP’s chances of an alliance with Congress, finally fizzled out he had claimed in a press conference – that according to ‘our survey, no Hindu will vote for Congress anyway. Muslims were initially confused, but now they will vote for us,”. No details of the survey were ever provided, the claim was clearly construed as a statement which aimed at ‘polarising’ voters on religious basis. (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.com/2019/08/aap-article-370-and-blind-alley.html)
5.
Elections always present before us a difficult choice?
Whom should we vote? The one already holding reins of power or the one who is marching with gusto.
Choice looks difficult today also; perhaps it would be better to avoid those who thrive on hate. , in this world filled with anger there is an urgent need to show love, show compassion.
Perhaps there is need to break new grounds.
Subhash Gatade is a left activist associated with New Socialist Initiative
Notes :
1.https://www.dw.com/en/rohingya-refugees-in-india-struggle-for-childrens-future/a-71172450#
2. https://theleaflet.in/international-law-world-affairs/a-rohingya-education-for-the-race-to-the-bottom-in-indian-politics
3. https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/rohingya-crisis ; https://www.hrw.org/tag/rohingya ; https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/4/criminalised-for-politics-rohingya-caught-in-delhi-election-crossfire
4. https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/why-aap-and-bjp-are-hyping-immigrant-phobia-in-delhi-3333453
5. https://maktoobmedia.com/opinion/the-dangerous-rhetoric-of-aap-bjp-why-so-much-hatred-toward-rohingyas/
6. https://theleaflet.in/international-law-world-affairs/a-rohingya-education-for-the-race-to-the-bottom-in-indian-politics
7. https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/why-aap-and-bjp-are-hyping-immigrant-phobia-in-delhi-3333453; https://scroll.in/article/1078164/eye-on-delhi-polls-parties-vie-to-outdo-rhetoric-against-illegal-bangladeshi-immigrants
8. https://x.com/atishiaap/status/1871219714321486306?s=46&t=TW3jAs4ZS_mOBEBtX831Yw
9.https://x.com/atishiaap/status/1871219714321486306?s=46&t=TW3jAs4ZS_mOBEBtX831Yw
10.https://kashmirtimes.com/opinion/comment-articles/tridents-for-men-and-daggers-for-women
11.https://www.scobserver.in/journal/sco-shorts-the-jahangirpuri-demolitions-reach-the-sc/
12.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61187484 ; https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjps-war-on-poor-muslims-aap-s-dubious-role-aimim-chief-owaisi-on-jahangirpuri-demolition-drive-101650429007452.html
13. https://theprint.in/politics/cant-afford-to-take-risks-why-aap-leaders-have-been-avoiding-jahangirpuri-since-riot/924065/
14. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/politics/ram-mandir-inauguration-away-from-ayodhya-aap-plans-events-to-celebrate-consecration-ceremony-12100021.html
15. https://kafila.online/2014/05/10/ak-versus-namo/
16. Modi ki Raah Chale Kejriwal, Deshbandhu, 30 April 2014
17. https://theprint.in/india/days-before-budget-minister-anurag-thakur-chants-desh-ke-gaddaron-ko-goli-maaro-saalon-ko/355124/
18 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/complaint-bjp-leader-kapil-mishra-hate-message-1614129-2019-10-30
19. https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/delhi-assembly-polls-2020/story/bjp-mp-parvesh-verma-shaheen-bagh-clear-protest-delhi-election-1640808-2020-01-28