Below is a statement from Shaheen Abdullah which was read out at the protest gathering at United Nations, UN Geneva, on 1 February. Shaheen has emerged as one of the many iconic anti-CAA protesters. He is a student of journalism and mass communication at Jamia Millia Islamia. He is also the same person who was seen being rescued by girls from police brutalities that befell the university during the anti-caa protests in the month of December 2019.
Good day and warm solidarity and support for each who has come out to protest against not only these acts of tyranny, but against the tyrants itself, the fascists in the corridors of power to whom reaches no voice at all.
I hope many others will speak about the various aspects of the new wave of protest in India that has erupted in this bitter winter. I thank everyone for the opportunity and understand my responsibility to represent a Muslim student fighting hand in hand in this anti-CAA protest.
When the Babri verdict came out, ridiculing the dignity of Indian Muslims, blatantly denying justice to the Indian Muslims, it was a day of confinement and suffocation. Our university was locked up, streets were emptied or filled with simmering silences and social media was curated. At that moment, in that frustration and grievance filled moment, a call for a gathering was made to a small group of students. We promised to ourselves and to each other and to our communities that we won’t be silent when they come for us again. Our voices would ring through the air if they came upon us again or belittled our identity. Two weeks later, when the anti-Muslim, pro-fascist amendment of the citizenship act was easily sanctioned by a majority inthe Indian parliament, we knew it was our last chance to stand up and fight back.
On December 13th, after the Friday prayers, we marched towards the parliament to say it on the face of our lawmakers that we will resist their ‘Genocidal Project’. This organically erupted movement from Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University, is an uprising of the Muslim youth along with their allies to fight the brewing genocide instigated by Hindutva since partition.
Perhaps, what I say may sound false, and if that is the case, it is only because of the narration built by the Indian media, which brews hatred and vitriol while speaking in the tongues of their political masters. Who they are and who their masters are, has never been clearer to us in this time and age. But this movement, its tussle and tensions, is a fight to prevent a brewing genocide of Indian Muslims. When I look at the calendar, every day is related to violence against Muslims With Kashmir, it breaks your heart if you are a concerned Muslim. In an objective way, RSS, the right-wing ideological group has successfully entered the last stages of genocide from the list often stages of genocide coined by scholar Gregory H Stanton. In India, all the opposition parties, as well as Liberal civil societies have failed to address the selective target in the bill and the attitude of BJP government towards the extermination of Muslims. And it is to them that we mustask – Can you live with the idea of India becoming another zionist state? A Hindu rashtra administered by right wing groups?
We may never know your answers but our is this – We will counter it tooth and nail. It is a matter of the existence of millions – more than Muslims alone. In fact, we are not exclusively fighting for Muslims but against this Modi government which has a history of violence against the marginalised. In clarity, our concerns are not only confined to implementing the essence of the marginalised. In clarity, our concerns are not only confined to implementing the essence of the constitution and saving secularism. There are two million of us in the northeastern state, Assam, who have become stateless. Our fight is inspired by the dignity of faith upheld by Kashmiri Muslims who are a under lockdown for the last six months or rather, under a lockdown for the last several decades.
Today, having a Prime Minister and a Home Minister who reek of the violences of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, who capitalize on Islamophobia, sectarian politics and caste hegemony – What we need to do is stand in solidarity and lead the fight for those who have been targeted. One must never forget the history that is being written right now. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, referred to as the Militant monk by Nilanjana Bhowmick in her Washington Post article, orchestrated a bloody crackdown on 20 December which killed 16 Muslims. All because they stood against the CAA/NRC/NPR. The grave injustices narrated by families of these martyrs will enlighten or rather burden anyone about the threat of being a Muslim in India. Saving constitution, reviving secularism and restoring dignity is a major goal of this movement.
To collect in solidarity beyond communal lines, bridging faiths, are the only ways to solve the state we are in. All the damages that the right-wing has done to the people will be acknowledged. And when everyone shares the story of Niemoller “ First they came for the socialists” we need to fight for the first people who they came to take away.
To conclude, this uprising emerged from the political depression of Muslim students and their allies who were desperate during the silence of a majoritarian consciousness. When the state crushed them, our heartbroken mothers joined us on the street. Insha Allah, we will stop their genocide, we will live in our land and we will fight for each other against any fascist.I take this moment to extend my solidarity and pledge to fight for Sharjeel imam, Akhil gogoi, students of Shaheen school in Karnataka and numerous people oppressed by the cold blooded fanatics of Indian state.
