OPPOSITION parties, on January 15, pledged their support to social activists Sadaf Jafar, Pawan Rao Ambedkar, Deepak Kabir and former inspector general, Uttar Pradesh S R Darapuri, who were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police during the anti-CAA stir. The parties said that the movement against the contentious act was an effort to save the constitution.
As the four who alleged torture at the hands of the UP police recalled their trauma, leaders like CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, CPI general secretary D Raja, LJD chief Sharad Yadav and RJD's Manoj Jha assured them that the movement they were a part of would not be allowed to die down.
"The 20 parties which met on January 13 have pledged their support to the movement. Protecting the constitution is the highest form of patriotism. Terming all those that protest against the CAA, NRC or NPR as Pakistanis or speaking the language of Pakistan is utter nonsense. These people were kept in jail without a shred of evidence. What happened to them is happening across the country," said Yechury.
Yechuri condemned the statements made by Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh about taking revenge on protestors. He said that as a result of that statement, innocent people were arrested and tortured in jail for three weeks. He said that this is the first time in 70 years that religion has been made a category under which citizenship will be granted. All arguments put forth by Shah and Modi on CAA are wrong. It is not only unconstitutional but anti- constitution, he said.
Yechury also pointed that deaths of anti-CAA protestors took place only in the BJP-ruled states and said that the Uttar Pradesh government had no evidence against those arrested. The comments made by the BJP in West Bengal that protestors were shot like dogs in UP and then by another BJP leader who said that the protestors will be buried, shows what BJP is capable of. It is giving notices to innocent people like the British penalising those that participated in the civil disobedience movement, he compared.
The four, who were remanded in police custody alleged that they were beaten, slapped and kicked by police officials. They recalled being denied food and water for long spells and even disallowed from informing their whereabouts to their families.
"What hurt me more than the physical torture were the communal slurs that were hurled at me. At that time through the pain, I kept hoping that someone will come for me," said Jafar, who along with the others have been released on bail.
Senior opposition leader, Sharad Yadav compared the situation in the country to the emergency period and said that the current state was worse than that. "This is an unofficial emergency. While during the emergency, everything was out in the open. Now, it is silent, cannot be seen," he said.
RJD leader Manoj Jha hailed the students and common people behind the anti-CAA stir and said that the situation is that having a name like "Kabir" or "Ambedkar" is in itself a crime. "The testimonies that you are hearing here, are happening across the country. If a former IG can be treated this way, imagine what happens to the others. This movement is a movement of the people, let there be no doubt, this is a movement where people took on the government. This was not a movement started by political parties, but we are here to support it," said Jha.
D Raja said that the torture of people in custody was a crime committed by the UP government. He alleged that while the centre was now resorting to abusing and accusing the opposition for spreading lies, it was unable to answer any of the questions raised by them or the protestors over CAA.
Around 20 opposition parties have decided to hit the streets jointly against the centre’s economic policies as well as against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). A joint meeting of the opposition parties convened by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi urged people to observe January 23 (birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose), January 26 (Republic Day) and January 30 (martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi) as days to uphold constitutional values.
