As COVID fails to scare CAA protesters, Hindu outfits now issue threats
As the coronavirus scare failed to make anti-citizenship law protesters end their dharnas in Bihar, Hindu outfits in the state have now resorted to issuing violent threats to the agitators who have been holding demonstrations for the last three months in support of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
As the coronavirus scare failed to make anti-citizenship law protesters end their dharnas in Bihar, Hindu outfits in the state have now resorted to issuing violent threats to the agitators who have been holding demonstrations for the last three months in support of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
These outfits have been trying to bring an end to the protests with reasoning, but in vain. At first, they publicised how the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is about granting citizenship, and then cited US President Donald Trump’s trip to India amid the protests as America’s support to the citizenship law.
Finally, they have been highlighting the panic that the COVID-19 outbreak has caused in India, and warning how crowding public spaces could complicate the situation. But when every tactic failed, they began issuing threats.
Hindu Jagran Manch activists took to the streets in Muzaffarpur, and shouted slogans and blocked roads for hours, demanding an end to the demonstrations in the district against the citizenship law.
Related news: COVID scare: Delhi police request Shaheen Bagh protesters to vacate area
They also served warning to the women protesting against the CAA, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) as they raised objection to the crowding of public spaces at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is rapidly spreading.
While the government has been appealing the people to stay indoors, the anti-CAA protesters in the state have refused to budge and are crowding the public streets, putting citizens’ life in danger, the outfits alleged.
“We have served an ultimatum to the protesters to end their dharna soon or be ready to face the consequences,” warned Hindu Jagran Manch secretary Kundan Kumar. He said the government is asking everyone to stop crowding on the streets to check the spread of the virus, but the protesters are not noticing the advisories and are leaving the residents at risk.
The incident comes barely three days after the miscreants opened fire at a group of protesters sitting on another such dharna in Gaya district. Witnesses said the Muslim villagers were holding silent protests when three miscreants carrying revolvers opened fire on them on Wednesday (March 18) evening. Although none suffered injuries, the incident caused panic among the protesters.
Related news: 90 days on, infectious spirit of Shaheen Bagh protesters refuses to die down
“Pro-CAA supporters have been repeatedly trying to disturb our dharnas, and have virtually gone mad after losing the Delhi assembly elections. We know the COVID-19 outbreak is dangerous and our own lives will be in danger, but if the government is so serious towards our life, it should have acted on our demand,” said Kumar Pervez, one of the protesters.
He questioned the way the government has been asking people to stay indoor while scores of BJP leaders were caught attending a party in Lucknow, attended by Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor, who later tested positive for the infection.
Pervez added the anti-CAA protesters are being advised to temporarily leave the dharna sites and rather stage a symbolic protest until the crisis subsides.
Protests against the CAA, NPR and NRC are currently going on at around 100 odd places across the state for the past three months since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Parliament in December.
Related news: COVID-19: Complaint filed against singer Kanika Kapoor in Bihar court
Such dharnas are going on in 15 places in Patna town alone. In majority of these places, Muslim women have been at the forefront of the protests, showing no signs of fatigues on their faces. What is praiseworthy is that the protests have remained mostly peaceful so far.
What is further interesting is that the protesters have showed no signs of panic on their faces due to the coronavirus outbreak. They have refused to vacate the protest site despite the rising number of suspects quarantined in the state. They say the coronavirus is not as dangerous as the CAA, NPR and NRC.
The Bihar government has launched a slew of measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Although no confirmed case has been reported from Bihar so far, the state government, in a preventive measure, has shut down educational institutions, shopping malls, movie theatres, parks, zoo, gymnasiums, and swimming polls. It has also restricted public movement and allowed alternate day working for Group C and D staffs till March 31.
The state government has also invoked the British-era Epidemic Diseases Act that grants special powers to the government to conduct mass screening, sealing of geographical areas, isolation of suspects in hospitals, banning vehicular movements and initiating punitive action against those who hide the disease. Besides, it has also suspended in-house operations of all restaurants and banquet halls till March 31.
That is in addition to the continuing mass screening of people at the airports and at all the 49 transit points along the 700 km-long porous Indo-Nepal border. According to a latest report by the health department, a total of 520 passengers, who have returned from corona affected countries after January 15, 2020, have been identified by the state surveillance system and kept under home isolation. Of them, 119 have completed the mandatory 14-day observation while the remaining 401 are still under isolation.
The health department report further stated over three lakh people have been screened at the Indo-Nepal border while another 20,786 have been screened at the Patna and Gaya airports. Moreover, blood samples of 85 persons have been tested, and to the relief of the government, none of them tested positive.