Author and activist Manoranjan Byapari minces no words when talking to The Quint about the ongoing anti-CAA protests across the country. Unlike many political leaders, who seem to have taken a comfortable stand on the amended citizenship act, Byapari refuses to be taken in by the assurances given by the BJP government. He shares how the protests are not going anywhere soon and how the the government may resort to violence to subdue them.
Below is an excerpt from the conversation:
On Ongoing Anti CAA-NRC Protests
People are expressing dissent against CAA-NRC in Kolkata. Everyday a procession is being taken out. Students, youngsters and mostly women; particularly women from the Muslim community who have never stepped out of their houses, even they have started coming out of their houses now and are taking part in the protest.
It is very clear that the government will not bow down to these protests. They will have to employ the use of machine guns and air bombs, before which this stops. This fight has just taken off. This fight will go on in the future too. This is because such an insensitive government and politicians have never been in our country before. They don’t know the value of the lives of people.
They will stretch themselves to the extreme, from where they will either lose or win. If they win, then it will be a deadly day, not just for Indians but for humans as a race. If humans (protesters) are able to win then it will pave the way for a new society.
They shoot bullets on small matters. If anyone stands up against it to have a conversation around it, it is not allowed. They only know how to indulge in violence.
On BJP Government’s Assurances With Respect to CAA-NRC
You transformed into a snake and bit us and now you say that you will provide us with first-aid for the same. Why did you bring forth this bill in the year 2003? This bill was brought in by you. Before this people had Voter Card, Aadhar Card, Pan Card and some even had passports. It was through their votes that you came to power. Today you are standing against it saying that all these documents hold no value and you will create new papers and give them to people which will prove whether one is a citizen.
So, somewhere or the other it shows that you have something else going on in your mind. A lot like the saying that elephant’s tooth is different to see and entirely different to chew. Bangladesh will not accept us and you say that we don’t belong here. So, you think we have been dropped from the skies here?
Where has our country gone? You tell us where to stay, then. You are creating detention camps for us and telling us that we have to stay there. We will not accept this. So many people have come on the streets and they don’t want to go to detention camps.
So this fight will go a long way. A lot of lives will be sacrificed. After that some fruitful result will come out of it.
On Mamata Banerjee
Look, up until now her stand has been appreciation worthy. But she is the Chief Minister and we never know as to when she changes her stance to what and where, no one can tell. The common man has waged a war with the government. The common man has taken to the streets.
As you are already seeing the poor vote percent that CPM gets. But when they take out the procession, lakhs of people take part in it. These people who take part in the procession are not from CPM, they are the ones who are against this law.
They are standing up and fighting the war. Any party which disassociates themselves from these processions will lose the support of the common man.
These people will go in the procession of CPM, Congress, Trinamool, everybody. Because they know that if this law is imposed then their lives will become difficult.
On Mayawati and Chandrashekhar
Now that Mayawati’s name has come into the picture—she was elected as the Chief Minister by the Dalits. Then why have the Dalits turned against her? This means that you have not been able to fall through to her expectations and that is why people have lost their trust in you. Now, Mayawati is not even outrightly rejecting this Law because CBI is after her. She is scared that if she stands against them then she will be sent to the gallows. So, she is not able to speak as openly as Chandrashekhar Azad aka Ravan is able to. He is not scared of speaking.
Mayawati is scared of speaking as she saw how things panned out for Lalu Prasad Yadav. Somewhere or the other these people have done something or the other which is causing them to be scared of CBI and SIT. That is why these people have not been able to openly protest against it. They also feel the need to ask as to how long must they protest?
As long as they get permission enough to roast their political bread, they protest. Just stating that she is a messiah and a revered minister of the Dalit community is wrong.
If you look closely, you will find out that more than half of the leadership actually belongs to the upper castes. Therefore, it is no longer a question of what she is doing. It is a question of what the people are doing.
If she stands up against this Law, the common man will be with them else the common man will go with Chandrashekhar Azad.
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