A three-day online protest conference is happening on 12 through 14 June in the wake of series of attacks and illegal arrests of those involved in anti-CAA protests and gatherings.
The state has been using arrests and illegal detentions of leaders to frighten the common mass about the consequences of dissent. A series of arrests are going on across the country even during the emergency condition of COVID-19 pandemic, while putting the lives of leaders at grave risk. Leading student activists such as Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Farhan Zuberi are currently imprisoned in various jails. Leaders of Anti-CAA protests such as Dr. Kafeel Khan, Khalid Saifi, Gulshifa Fatima, Akhil Gogoi, Ishrat Jahan, Bittu Sonowal, Manas Konwar, Dhairjya Konwar and many more are arrested under various draconian laws. Meanwhile, the Sangh Parivar culprits and hate mongers such as Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Mishra are continuing their propaganda with full impunity.
In the All India online protest conference, more than 15 distinguished speakers will address the nation on the continued witch-hunting of anti-CAA activists. Included among them are members of Parliament such as Manoj Jha, Imtiyaz Jaleel, Thor Thirumavalavan, Shafiq-Ur-Rahman Barq, and Human Rights activists namely Thirumurugan Gandhi, Henri Tiphange. The online conference is being organised by ‘United Against CAA NPR NRC’ alliance under the theme “Revoke CAA, No NRC, Stop NPR”.
India has been witnessing a historic struggle against discriminatory and repressive Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) since its resolution was proposed in December 2019. With the enactment of the CAA in both the houses of parliament, the struggle found new avenues of protest spanning through rallies, sit-ins, road blockades and hartals. These Anti-CAA, NPR & NRC protests were widely appreciated due to its democratic, constitutional, inclusive nature and most importantly its sustenance spirit during the peak of maligned hate campaigns by the state machinaries and Sangh Parivar propagandists. While the initial struggles were coordinated by the students of Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jawaharlal Nehru University, the violent suppression over those peaceful protests led to the emergence of more sustainable protest sites modeled upon ‘Shaheen Bagh’ across India under the leadership of Muslim women, student activists, journalists and socio-political groups.
The government is all set out to target leaders and students of Muslim community by framing in false cases and illegal detention under draconian laws. This anti-Muslim propaganda was exposed at a global level in the recent campaign on Islamophobia in India. At the same time, the U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom has recommended India as ‘country with particular concern’ (CPC) on the pretext of the implementation of CAA and violations of religious freedom. The current Sangh Parivar regime has been denigrating the reputation of India as the world’s largest democracy and the country is facing a grave backlash over the suppression of dissent during a pandemic condition with utterly misplaced priorities.
Various media platforms have come forward to premier the live conference via their social media handles, including The Companion.
