Holi is an opportunity for rioters: Home Ministry tells states to keep an eye on all Shaheen Bagh model protests

In what reveals a serious security threat, Times Now has accessed a sensitive Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) note to the states revealing a sharp surge in the number of protest sites in the country on lines of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi.

There has been a massive jump in the Shaheen Bagh model of protests in the country- 291 from nine in a matter of 60 days. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the MHA has also noted that there is a high probability of such protests stirring communal clashes. The Home Ministry has accordingly asked states to maintain vigil in the communally-sensitive areas.

The Home Ministry note has exposed a major security risk in the country, especially at a time when the major festival of Holi is around the corner. It must be kept in mind that Shaheen Bagh like protests are not only a major obstruction- an illegal and unreasonable interference in the fundamental right of fellow citizens to move seamlessly in any part of the country, but also an exercise in Islamist bigotry and supremacism.

Since December 15, we have seen how Shaheen Bagh model is a perfect example of what a legitimate, democratic protest shouldn’t be like. Apart from causing severe hardship to the commuters between Delhi and Noida, the sit-in protest was to a great extent responsible for the communal flare-ups in Northeast Delhi last month.

Throughout the protests, there have been several shocking events displaying how radical Islamist ideology has been the driving force behind such agitations. From Shaheen Bagh protest organiser, Sharjeel Imam’s AMU speech to cut off Assam from the rest of India, to videos of girls of a tender age hurling abuses in the form of Azadi slogans of a nature that cannot be the handiwork of young kids and the death of an infant girl passed off as a ‘qurbaani (religious sacrifice), Shaheen Bagh protests has been an Islamist experiment of the worst kind that we have witnessed in the recent past.

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What makes Shaheen Bagh-like protests even more disconcerting is the involvement of nefarious, radical elements like the SIMI-affiliate Popular Front of India (PFI). When PFI funds Shaheen Bagh and other such protests, then why wouldn’t such a militant organisation want to pursue their anti-India, anti-Hindu agenda through violent means? This also explains the Hinduphobia which is writ large over the Shaheen Bagh agitation.

We have already seen the inherent dangers associated with such radicalisation reverberating beyond Shaheen Bagh. Last month, the Northeast Delhi riots were preceded by protests and roadblocks on the Shaheen Bagh model in several areas of Delhi on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s India visit. It cannot be a mere coincidence that exactly the same areas would go on to bear the brunt of extreme religious bigotry and violence that was made to coincide with Trump’s India visit.

Jaffrabad was supposed to be made into Northeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh. Right before rioting took grip of the concerned areas, there was a massive gathering at the Jaffrabad metro station and even the metro station had to be closed. Moreover, videos from the area showed protesters blocking Road no. 66 which serves as an important junction connecting Seelampur to Maujpur and Yamuna Vihar.

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Broadly on the day and evening preceding Trump’s India visit, there were roadblocks and preparations for sit in protests in Jaffrabad, Chand Bagh and Khureji Khas in East Delhi- all these areas were the epicentre of violent rioting in the National Capital.

Other states must now remain vigilant and pre-empt the kind of build up that had taken place in Northeast Delhi before the riots got sparked off. The anti-CAA lobby wants to push India into a virtual civil war with Shaheen Bagh model replicated all across the country and all the state agencies, particularly the intelligence establishment must keep a tab on this situation.

As such there is a need to replicate the Uttar Pradesh model, where the police recently intervened successfully to get the Jiwangarh bypass road in Aligarh cleared. Moreover, a door-to-door campaign had revealed how women were being forced to attend such protests by their husbands.

There is need to nip the security threat in the bud by catching hold of the radical community leaders and such other nefarious elements who are constantly challenging the peace and tranquility of the country by orchestrating such large scale indoctrination and anti-India, anti-Hindu radicalisation.