Kuch bhi karega for international headlines: New anti-CAA drama sprouts up in Delhi right before Trump visit

Yesterday, the National Capital once again witnessed massive anti-CAA violence and road blockades across several different areas in the Capital city. 

The anti-CAA protests had interestingly subsided in the past few days, especially after the Delhi Assembly poll results. But now they have picked up suddenly all over again. US President Donald Trump is going to arrive in India today for a two-day visit and this seems to have triggered the anti-India, anti-CAA lobby. 

The new wave of anti-CAA protests, violence and roadblocks in the National Capital started from Jaffrabad in Northeast Delhi. Videos from the area show protesters blocking Road no. 66 which serves as an important junction connecting Seelampur to Maujpur and Yamuna Vihar.

The Jaffrabad metro station too had to be closed owing to the roadblock, even as the anti-CAA lobby tried to create another Shaheen Bagh out of Jaffrabad. 

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 Later in the day, similar roadblocks were reported from other parts of the city. Similar roadblocks were organised by the anti-CAA lobby in Delhi’s Chand Bagh and Khureji in East Delhi. Bheem Army’s call for Bharat bandh is said to have led to these violent protests and road closures. 

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 The illegal road closures also led to resistance from locals, who wanted roads to be cleared. BJP leader, Kapil Mishra led the protests giving a three-day ultimatum to the Delhi Police to get the Jaffrabad roads cleared. 

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 The situation turned ugly after stones were pelted at a rally led by Kapil Mishra in Maujpur, which is in the vicinity of the Jaffrabad area from where the anti-CAA agitation took off yesterday. 

A group of pro-CAA protesters had reached the Maujpur-Baburpur metro station- less than a kilometre from Jaffrabad demanding that the police remove the barricades. At around 4 PM, this group came under intense stone pelting from the other side. Stone pelting by the anti-CAA protesters at the group backing the CAA left 15 injured. Clashes soon erupted between the two groups as stone pelting ensued from both sides.

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The anti-CAA lobby came out with brimming enthusiasm organising protests, road blockades and unleashing violence on the eve of Trump’s India visit. As such the object of creating confusion and chaos in order to sabotage the crucial visit is pretty clear with these protests. 

Remember, the anti-CAA lobby had organised and unleashed similar kind of violence and arson in Guwahati, Assam in the run-up to Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe’s visit. At that time, they had managed to get the visit cancelled. This could have further emboldened the anti-CAA goons in the National Capital. 

The idea seems to be to scare away Donald Trump and to instil a sense of fear in his Secret Service, which is obviously concerned and committed to his security. 

If a single event gets cancelled owing to these violent protests, the anti-CAA lobby would believe that they have triumphed. Sabotaging the US President’s visit is the sole intention of the protests that were organised yesterday. 

Sharjeel Imam, the organiser of the Shaheen Bagh protests who was arrested recently over his seditious comments about cutting off Northeast from the rest of the country, wanted large scale ‘disturbance’ in Delhi to grab the attention of international media.  

Copy of a pamphlet recovered from his laptop read, “Thousands of Muslim youths are ready to disrupt Delhi which will give international media attention to our issue.”

Now, what better occasion than President Trump’s visit to get some international media attention. TV News is bound to be centred around PM Modi and President Trump during the historic visit.

The protesters, however, want to steal the show. They are trying to ensure that the coverage of the excellent chemistry between PM Modi and President Trump is blemished with the disturbing images of their violent protests in the eyes of the Western viewer. This way they will succeed in both substantially sabotaging Trump’s India visit and also grabbing the attention of the Western media.