Hundreds of people participated in the dharna organized in Jantar Mantar by the Delhi State Committee of CPI (M) as part of the All India call of day of protest against attacks on minorities.
The public meeting was chaired by K.M. Tiwari, Delhi State Secretary, CPI (M) and was addressed by Polit Bureau members of the Party Prakash Karat, Hannan Mollah, Brinda Karat, B.V. Raghavulu and Sehba Farooqui, Delhi State secretariat member of the Party.
Speakers expressed grave concern at the growing attacks against minority communities – Christian and Muslim – by organisations affiliated to the sangh parivar. Not only do the perpetrators of such communal actions enjoy immunity from the law, instead of protecting the victims, the administration in many BJP-ruled states punishes the victims and those who support them with false cases and arrests under draconian clauses.
Members of the Muslim minority are targeted and there are continuing cases of lynching, police killings, false arrests and mob violence against them in the name of `cow protection’ and `love jihad’. The most recent example has been in Tripura, where VHP hoodlums attacked minority communities, including vandalizing some mosques. Those reporting these attacks have been booked under UAPA. Another example is the prevention of the right to offer prayers, which have been curtailed in Gurgaon, part of the National Capital Region. Seven innocent young Muslim men were shot below knee in a fake encounter in Loni (Ghaziabad) alleging cow slaughter and have been booked under trumped up charges as part of the design to communally polarize the entire area. Muslim street vendors in some parts of Madhya Pradesh have been threatened and disallowed from pursuing their livelihood. In Assam, the poor peasant families cultivating land for decades were brutally evicted only because they belong to Muslim minority. In Uttar Pradesh, the use of NSA against Muslims has become common place.
Hindutva outfits have also attacked members of the Christian community. According to one estimate there have been over 300 attacks on Christians between January and June this year. The latest instance is that of an attack on a church in Dwarka in Delhi two days ago.
These attacks on minorities constitute an attack on the Constitution of India and are part and parcel of RSS’ attempts to impose Manusmriti on the country. Speakers also underlined that these attacks are further part of the sinister ploy to divide the growing unity of the working sections against the disastrous policies of the Modi government.
Protests were also held in Ghaziabad and Noida. A memorandum was also submitted to the district magistrate of Ghaziabad highlighting the Loni issue.
