The Shaheen Bagh ‘chakkajam’ (blocking road and creating traffic jam) seems to have hit a roadblock of its own. One of the organisers, Sharjeel Imam, a columnist with leftist propaganda website The Wire and The Quint, today took to Facebook to ‘announce’ that the Shaheen Bagh ‘protests’ have been called off today.
He said that despite non-intervention of the Delhi Police, they have decided to ‘call off’ the ‘protests’ so that they can plan the ‘second phase’ of protests, that would be Hong Kong style flash mob strategy.
The ‘Hong Kong style’ strategy was also discussed by Reetam Singh, NSUI National RTI Cell Coordinator, in his WhatsApp group for ‘anti-CAA protests‘ coordination. NSUI is the National Students Union of India which is a Congress Students arm.
https://twitter.com/UnSubtleDesi/status/1208369555979923457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sharjeel Imam, who studied Computer Science at IIT Bombay, is currently pursuing Modern History at JNU. A WhatsApp conversation of Sharjeel and some of his acquaintances accessed by OpIndia had revealed how after the pronouncement of Ram Janmabhoomi verdict he wanted to burn the Constitution on JNU campus.
Sharjeel Imam was also found inciting Muslims to take to streets and bring the cities across north India to a standstill.
In his Facebook post, Sharjeel mentions that hundreds of volunteers and women have withdrawn from the protests at Shaheen Bagh. However, other supporters of the ‘chakkajam’ seem to be still protesting.
https://twitter.com/surekhapillai/status/1212706688400101376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The woman recording at Shaheen Bagh could be heard saying how ‘some people’ are spreading rumours that the protests are called off.
https://twitter.com/surekhapillai/status/1212707331273711622?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Other conflicting messages on social media also say that the road blockade is still on. According to CNN News 18 journalist SaahilMurli Menghani, Imam has ‘called off’ the blockade ‘under pressure’ as one of them is named in an FIR.
https://twitter.com/saahilmenghani/status/1212710834465472513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
One faction which is continuing the blockade reportedly believe it is ‘divide and rule’. Imam, in his inciting speech outside Jamia Millia Islamia campus on 14th December, 2019, a day before violence broke out, had urged fellow Muslims to be ready for taking blows of the lathis of police for the Quran as the constitution is fascist.
In his Facebook post, Imam had alleged that the ‘movement’ was being hijacked by political parties and those who want to mint money out of it. While one can only speculate who could be these thugs, amongst those who visited Shaheen Bagh to ‘express solidarity’ are Congress veteran leader Salman Khurshid, daughter of former Censor Board member and Bollywood entertainer Swara Bhasker, controversial journalist Barkha Dutt and ‘stand-up comic’ Sanjay Rajoura who gets quite easily riled up when criticised.
On 15th December, a day after Imam called for bringing India to a standstill, Delhi Traffic Police put up an alert on Twitter that traffic movement was closed from Sarita Vihar to Kalindi Kunj due to protests at Shaheen Bagh. On 15th December is when the violence escalated in Jamia and Police had to use force to contain the rioting mob. Shaheen Bagh is in close proximity to Jamia Millia Islamia.
Police have maintained that the rioting mobsters entered Jamia premises and they had to enter the varsity to flush the rioters. Highly placed sources in the intelligence agencies tell that the agencies believe the protests at Shaheen Bagh are being held to protect some of the miscreants who may be hiding there. The women and children ‘leading the protests’ is just a cover so that should the police use force, they get painted as monsters. The intelligence agencies are keeping a tight vigil on these demonstrations. Now, one of the main ‘organisers’ have pulled out of the ‘protests’.