The desperation in the Bhartiya Janta Party in the wake of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Law has been clear on the surface now. From using the missed call technique and selling it in the name of Netflix, to administrative attempts to curb the protests. However, the BJP IT cell has hit a new low to declare the ongoing protests as illegitimate. The BJP IT cell chief, Amit Malviya made a sensational claim saying that the Shaheen Bagh protest has been sponsored by Congress. Shaheen Bagh is currently on the 34th day of its protest and has seen many Muslim women take a lead against the law discriminating based on religion. It has been an iconic revolution, as the women continue to hold the ground despite unfavorable circumstances. In a dirty blow to break the legitimacy of the protest, the BJP IT cell has released a video with a conversation between two people, pointing towards that the women protestors charge 500-700 rupees a day and Biryani for holding the ground. They allege the Indian National Congress for backing the protest financially. The men in the video together claim that “The landlords of the shops across the street (Shaheen Bagh) have waived off the rent for the shops. They said if the shops cannot function, how will they pay the rent? The ladies sitting at the protest venue work in turns. They are getting paid in money as per their shifts.”
The conversation goes ahead to say that while few ladies are being paid rupees 500 a day, others are paid rupees 700 a day for holding the protest ground. It says that the ladies anyways have got no work to do and just sit there in shifts. When their shift is over, they go back home to cook food, feed their children and come back to sit. They allege that the women are getting free Biryani, tea and other things as an incentive. It is essentially called a game of the Congress. In events where the Prime Minister of the country has been unable to find a face to confront the women-led protest, it a shabby technique of the political party to declare the protest as illegitimate and motivated by ulterior political incentives.
The women of Shaheen Bagh are not affluent women who have privilege served to them in silver plates. These are women from working-class families, with little children for whom they hope a future in India. Their nationality and patriotism have been questioned with the introduction of the new law and they have very strongly led the protests for us. The very powerful Bhartiya Janta Party led by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have come forward and addressed this gathering instead of hoping to make Amit Shah reach Noida for another sham meeting. Shaheen Bagh has been nothing short of an inspiration and the protestors will surely prove all these claims to be a shabby tactic of the ruling party, given their desperation in times of massive resistance against their anti-people policies.
