NEW DELHI — As the central government has announced an unprecedented lockdown over corona-virus, the anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh were uncertain about their participation since Monday.
On Sunday, the protesters of the Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Millia Islamia complied with the Janata Curfew and limited their action to a symbolic protest. Some protesters left their slippers and posters there and returned home for the day. A few protesters stayed back for some hours.
‘Social Distancing’, as was advised by PM Modi, was maintained at the protest site, and precautions against the deadly virus have been taken there too.
Come evening and a crowd assembled at the site, triggering commotion as they argued over the fate of the sit-in. There were noisy arguments, but no consensus emerged over the next course of action. Apprehensions were that the protesters may leave the site at night as the week-long lock-down was set to begin from Monday.
The spread of coronavirus has not only disrupted the life of the common man but also the movement. Shaheen Bagh has been the epicenter of anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests and a source of inspiration for other protest sites in different areas of Delhi in particular and across the country.
The movement spontaneously erupted after the lathi-charge on students of Jamia Millia Islamia on December 15 last. Since then, the protest site has been an issue of debate. It was raised as a point in the manifesto of the BJP during the Delhi Assembly Elections in 2020, so as to communally polarize the electorate, which however did not work.
Now and then, supporters of the controversial citizenship law and members of the Hindutva brigade tried to threaten the protesters at Shaheen Bagh. Even on the day of the Janata Curfew, some people threw petrol bombs near the protest site, but no harm was caused.
It is argued that this protest has made the life of the common man difficult as the road connecting the two adjacent states of the National Capital remained blocked. The matter is now before the Supreme Court. The case has been postponed twice for different reasons. The court had also appointed two lawyers to mediate in the matter to see if the protesters would leave the spot on their own, so that they could continue the protest at some other spot.