Google defines “Spontaneous” as performed or occurring as a result of a sudden impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus. Be it a reaction or a movement, Anything that starts on its own and grows on its own can roughly be bracketed under the category of spontaneous. The nation erupted in anger when a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern was beaten, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her friend. She succumbed to her injuries later. The incident caused widespread led to massive public protests against the state and central governments for failing to provide adequate security. It was a spontaneous public movement which was to become one of the major reasons why UPA toppled in 2014 general elections.
Now what is a student’s protest? It’s simple – A protest of, for and by students. Mandal commission protests of 1990 against reservations in government jobs based on caste in India could be termed as a students’ protest because it directly affected their lives. Though opposition helped the students’ movement by pledging support to them it essentially remained a student’s movement. The protests led to a series of self-immolation of students.
There are ongoing protests against CAA in India as you read the article but it is neither a spontaneous event, nor a students’ movement as journalists are trying to spin it into and there are three very solid reasons for it:
Reason#1: Involvement of AAP, Congress and Anti-India elements
As such there is nothing inflammatory about the CAA that it would have led to any violence or even peaceful protests. In fact, when the CAB was tabled in 2016, there were no protests in the country, leave alone the question of violence, vandalism and arson. The NRC in Assam this year left out lakhs of Muslims, but there were no ugly scenes of stone pelting, vandalism and arson. It is clear that there is nothing about the CAA or the NRC that could have spontaneously enraged and abetted violence. Protests did not take place at that time because the political parties and anti-India agencies did not deem it relevant at that time. However, a deadly mix of anti-India forces and the political class has taken shape now which has kept the country on the edge over the past few days.
The fact that the political class and anti-India agencies are the driving forces behind the ongoing violence and unrest is clear from the recent instances of violence themselves. Take Jamia and Seelampur violence in Delhi for example. As far as Jamia violence is concerned, the Delhi Police FIR contains the names of leaders from both the Congress and the AAP. One of such names is that of former Congress MLA, Asif Khan and CYSS leader Kasim Usmani, who is a member of the AAP student wing at the Jamia Milia Islamia University. This has obviously led to the two parties coming under the lens of suspicion. As far as the Seelampur incident is concerned, the protest rally was taken out by the former Congress MLA, Mateen Ahmed and the sitting AAP MLA, Haji Ishraq. Local Councillor Abdul Rehman of the AAP also present at the rally. Violence broke out merely 10 minutes after the AAP MLA left from the site and the Counsellor also left a few minutes before the protests took the form of ugly, violent riots.
The arrests of two members of the Assam unit of Kerala based PFI shows the level of elaborate planning and conspiracy behind the ongoing violence. The police are also reported to be looking for state youth Congress President Kamrul Islam Choudhury who was allegedly involved in a conspiracy to set the state Secretariat on fire and NSUI Vice-President Zuber Alam has also come under the scanner for vandalism at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra. This shows the involvement of the Congress and the NSUI in Assam violence as well.
The issue of involvement of terror organisations has also come up. official from Ministry of Home Affairs said, “Some political parties (names withheld considering the gravity of the case) ignited the violent acts at various places, letting opportunities to sleeper cells of extremist and militant Islamic fundamentalist organisations – Popular Front of India (PFI) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).” Therefore, a deadly mix of political parties and the radical Islamist organisations are orchestrating violence in the name of opposition to the CAA.
Some parties, particularly the TMC in West Bengal have been making inciteful, dangerously polarising speeches that has created unrest and violence. The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal has, in fact, fuelled tensions by advertising that the CAA is unconstitutional and that the state government will not implement the CAA or the NRC. By playing down the violence and destruction of rail property in West Bengal, the TMC supremo has further emboldened the nefarious elements that have run riot in the state.
Reason#2: Involvement of Left Ecosystem
Yesterday, the entire leftist ecosystem consisting of eminent personalities like Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Ramachandra Guha came together for ‘peaceful protests’. However, peacefully they might be protesting, it is this elitist section that has been the most instrumental in pushing misinformation and instilling a sense of fear about the CAA in the minds of the Muslim community.
The fact remains that while the self-acclaimed intellectuals held ‘peaceful protests’ yesterday, Muslim majority areas from Delhi to Ahmedabad have been witnessing widespread violence. And it is this deadly mix of fundamentalists, radicals, political parties, the so called intelligentsia and even the extremist terror organisations which gave fuelled tensions and disharmony. Dangerous propaganda against the CAA with outlandish myths like all Muslims being disenfranchised are being continuously spread by the opposition parties and their ecosystem. The country has been witnessing rumouring and fear-mongering of an unprecedented scale. It is clear that protests are not spontaneous, rather they are led by nefarious elements in a dangerous and pre-planned manner.
Reason#3: The protests are nationwide but not confined to pockets
The ongoing protests against CAA in India have, without a doubt, spread to the entire country. But no state or even a city has reported widespread violence. The violence is more or less pocketed and confined to Muslim majority areas like the ones in Delhi and Lucknow. No single city has reported citywide arson and violence. Even out of the 49 Central universities in India, only 3 universities have opposed the act out of AMU and Jamia remain the most vocal ones.