- Bhim Army Chief Azad’s dramatic appearance after Friday prayers inside the Jama Masjid appears to be carefully scripted.
- Even his eventual surrender to the police next morning, after addressing a huge crowd of admirers in the walled city, was clearly orchestrated for maximum effect.
- It was an astonishing coup that Chandrashekhar Azad singlehandedly managed to turn a Friday religious congregation of the Muslim minority, seething with anger and resentment, into a celebration of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution.
- For someone confined to only a section of Western Uttar Pradesh not so long ago, Azad has managed to make huge strides in a remarkably short period of time.
- Interestingly, Azad insisted that he was not interested in being just a Dalit leader or confine his politics to caste binaries.
- Much would depend on whether the Bhim Army chief can turn the growing support among active Dalit groups for him as well as the newfound goodwill within the Muslim community into core components of a larger launching pad to actually win elections.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad is emerging as a rising star in India’s fast changing political scenario. Electrifying images beaming across television screens and social media platforms – of him holding aloft a copy of the Indian Constitution, surrounded by a vast multitude protesting against the CAA and NRC in the heart of Delhi’s Jama Masjid – has overnight boosted his stature. Significantly, this comes barely a week after the Dalit activist from Western Uttar Pradesh announced his intention of forming a new political party.
Azad’s dramatic appearance after Friday prayers inside the Jama Masjid, which he followed by almost magically vanishing and reappearing several times within the premises of the ancient mosque, foiling repeated attempts by the Delhi Police to nab him, appears to be carefully scripted. Even his eventual surrender to the police next morning, after addressing a huge crowd of admirers in the walled city – urging them to carry on the agitation but always peacefully – was clearly orchestrated for maximum effect. Since then, a flood of messages have been pouring across Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp groups hailing the Bhim Army chief for his courage and flamboyant gesture in solidarity with the protesters at Jama Masjid.