“I am always ready to bear Allah's full fury but under no circumstances will I ever block road for offering namaz. There was no space in mosque or anywhere else except on road! Offering namaz on road is a big crime for me which I will never commit under any circumstances! Not for a second will I ever do anything that disturbs others and forces them to wait for me to leave road so that they can leave for their own work!”
- Sageer Khan my best friend who in 1993-94 said this to me when I asked him why he was so upset while returning from a mosque and why can’t he offer namaz on road just like others
It is most shocking to see that in his second term as PM Narendra Modi has senselessly, shamelessly and stupidly allowed blocking of roads and so also the Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also have also allowed for blocking of roads and rail tracks to register their protest against the new farm laws. What is even worst is that even Supreme Court too didn’t promptly order lifting of blockade of roads and rail tracks which is most unfortunate. My best friend Sageer Khan once also rightly said to me way back in 1993 that, “No cause no matter how sacred it may be can ever justify blocking of roads and rail tracks under any circumstances. My friendship will break with you if I ever come to know that you are a party to blocking of road or rail track. But I am sure that you will never ever commit such crime in your life.”
Bluntly put: Any PM who cannot stop blockade of road and rail tracks must promptly resign and pave way for some other capable person! Which Constitution or which law or which religion or which God can justify blocking of roads and rail tracks? To hell with such Constitution or law or religion or God! To hell with all of them or any one of them depending on which ever try to justify blocking of road or rail tracks under any circumstances whatsoever which cannot be ever justified!
Needless to say: Any PM who cannot stop carrying out of tractor rally or any other parallel rally during Republic Day in Delhi must promptly resign as this definitely lead to giving free hand to hoodlums, criminals, goons and terrorists who will not spare any opportunity to even desecrate Red Fort as we saw most recently during 26 January, 2021 which has shamed our nation in front of the whole world! More than 500 policemen were injured by armed rioters under the garb of farmers and even with folded hands when police cops requested when their was no space left for them to escape then also they kept on beating them mercilessly! Can this be justified in the name of dissent? To hell with such dissent! This can only be justified on the ground of "Might is right" and this is exactly what is happening unabashedly in our country since last two years!
Of course, it was not a coincidence that Khalistani supporters were simultaneously raising anti-India slogans and so also the historic statute of Mahatma Gandhi in America was broken! Can this also be justified in the name of dissent? Can chanting of Khalistani slogans also be justified in the name of dissent?
More broadly, can carrying of weapons be justified during tractor rally as we saw in Delhi during 26 January? Can tractors be allowed to break all barricading that comes their way? Can tractors be allowed to crush police men if they come in their way?
Why police never spares any person even if a person commits a small mistake like not wearing a helmet etc but on the contrary when many rogues threaten to carry out rallies and dare to throw aside all check posts then they are treated with kidgloves as we saw when more than 300 policemen were injured. How long will mob violence be justified on one pretext or the other? How long will terrorists be glorified in such protests? How long will women and men be allowed to chant that, “Hain Hain Modi Marja Tun Pehla Indira ko thoka hain aab Modi ki bari hain”? Why were such anti-nationals not arrested promptly? Why was all this taken so lightly?
There are many actors both in India and in abroad who are not coming out in open but who have made it their latest weapon to sponsor such blockade of roads and rail tracks and those foreign forces who are inimical to the very concept of India are the “real force” behind all such fundings and they must be identified at the earliest and exposed in front of the world. It is a national shame that why our government in Centre as well the Supreme Court allowed such dangerous, deplorable, despicable and dastardly blocking of roads and rail tracks which causes maximum inconvenience to the common person for months and months together and now Rakesh Tikait has warned to carry it for a year by end of 2021! All the legal luminaries, senior Supreme Court lawyers and Supreme Court Judges including CJI along with PM and Cabinet Ministers must feel most ashamed that they have allowed this most despicable blocking of roads and rail tracks right under their nose!
Under no circumstances should the administration both in the State as well as in the Centre should have ever allowed farmers instigated by their leaders for advancing their own interests to occupy roads and rail tracks. India’s international reputation has been worst affected but leaders like Rakesh Tikait among others are least bothered about all this! What is most shocking is that the PM and the CJI have not taken it most seriously due to which this shameful, senseless and stupid act of blocking of road and rail tracks is fast becoming the order of the day! CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde should have first ordered protesters to vacate the road and to give an undertaking that they would never again occupy roads and rail tracks like this before staying the Central laws or appointing a high powered Committee to look into it. But nothing of this sort happened and the result are there for all of us as we saw during Republic day!
To put it mildly: Our Red Fort was desecrated by hoodlums and vandalisers and this happened right under the nose of the administration. Why was permission given for such tractor parade and that too on Republic Day and that too in Capital itself to so many vehicles that it was virtually impossible to keep a control on all of them? There are many more such troubling questions which keep haunting us who love this nation!
Needless to say, too much freedom and too much tolerance allowed to mob under the garb of farmers or any other form will destroy India completely as it is goons who hijack the agenda as we saw during the Republic day parade! Who is responsible for many places like Ghazipur turning into fortress with nails on roads and concrete walls? It is these hoodlums who tarnished the reputation of India and indulged in wanton violence in which more than 500 police cops were injured which cannot be justified under any circumstances whatsoever!
How can we forget the images of farmers in their tractors considering themselves above law and clashing with the Delhi police at Red Fort where they were not permitted to go and rampaging whatever came in their way and carried out huge destroying of precious items even inside the Red Fort? As if this was not enough, many of them even tried to run tractor over police cops who had to run for saving their lives! Should the CJI and his brother Judges have sympathy for such farmers? Should they allow farmers to hold nation to ransom by blocking all entry points to Delhi?
It cannot be lightly dismissed that among all the Congress leaders, it was Captain Amarinder Singh who is Chief Minister of Punjab who was most vocal in denouncing what all happened under the garb of tractor rally on January 26, 2021. He minced no words to state unequivocally that, “My head hangs in shame at what happened yesterday in the national capital.” He also said categorically that those who were responsible for the incident were not farmers but misguided youth who were indulging in symbolism. How can this or blocking of roads be ever justified? Why rail tracks in Punjab were allowed to be blocked for months together?
What message has gone out? Why judiciary too allowed this most despicable act of blocking of road right under its very nose? Why were these protesters allowed to take the nation for a ride and injure as many as more than 500 police personnel? What message are we setting?
It is a no-brainer that this farmers movement has defamed India to the hilt. Spineless, senseless and shameless justification of violence under the garb of farmers protest and blocking of roads and rail tracks cannot be justified under any circumstances. Who is having the last laugh? It is countries like Canada, UK, US, Italy and Germany among others who openly support Khalistani movement and encourage them to rebel against India by allowing openly anti-India and pro-Khalistani activities on their soil and allowing them to vandalise even statutes of Mahatma Gandhi as we saw in USA!
Should we be proud of this? It is not just a coincidence that it is mostly celebrities from these countries who are expressing maximum concern for what is purely an internal issue of India but which Opposition parties are wanting to spare no opportunity to internationalise it. It is not just a coincidence that governments of these countries are voicing maximum concern over farm laws and this despite the irrefutable fact that USA has lent its support to the farm laws under the new President Joe Biden as mentioned in the newspapers of February 4, 2021!
Never take your enemy for granted. This where India always err. Why are protesters becoming a convenient tool in the hands of foreign powers? Why are Mir Jafars and Jai Chands being allowed to set the agenda of blocking roads for an indefinitely long period so as to tarnish, tatter and toss the impeccable reputation of India to the hilt?
I am sorry to say but this is no way to carry out a movement! We have become a laughing stock in front of the world for which farmer leaders who have misdirected farmers cannot escape from being held accountable. Why farmer leaders allowed this sacred agitation to be hijacked by radical separatists organizations who are openly advocating a separate Khalistan for Sikhs? Why Sikhs for Justice which is one such separatist organization was allowed to take the centrestage that had gone to the extent of even giving a clarion call to the Sikhs to reach the Red Fort on 26 January and unfurl the Khalistani flag and insult the national flag? Why Centre took it most lightly and why permission was granted to tractor rally which was more a terrorist rally in which we saw violent protesters trying to crush our police cops, run over barricades and vandalise Red Fort in a manner that is completely unprecedented? Centre has a lot of explaining to do on this just like in the case of Shaheen Bagh!
The locals are also simmering in anger as it is their right to livelihood and right to free passage that is getting worst affected due to this endless farmers agitation. We have seen how tension broke out in Tikri border where more than 100 people gathered and demanded the removal of protesters from the main Rohtak Road which has been blocked for the last more than two months. How long will the locals keep patience? Why Supreme Court gave the green signal for protest to continue on roads? Do only protesters have fundamental rights? What about others who face immense difficulties and trouble in their livelihood due to such blockades? Are they second grade citizens? Only vandalisers, hoodlums, violent agitators and road blockers entitled to fundamental rights for which our Supreme Court speaks most vociferously! What about others? Should others just keep on tolerating every nonsense quietly? This is what happened during Shaheen Bagh agitations due to which riots broke out when protesters tried to block other places also feeling emboldened to block Shaheen Bagh for more than 100 days!
Pintu Kumar who is a resident of the nearby Baba Haridas Nagar at Tikri Border said that these protesters “broke our trust” and “insulted” the national flag on January 26, when the farmers abetted by some selfish and vested leaders took out the disgraceful, disastrous, dangerous, shameful, senseless and stupid tractor rally to embarrass our nation. He rightly said that, “These people cannot be farmers, as a Kisan will never attack a Jawan. These are anti-social elements. We initially supported them and gave them food as well but they have broken our trust by resorting to violence on Republic Day.” The NIA report and intelligence report had also warned of Khalistani terrorists having entered the tractor rally and farmers protest but still stupidly sanction was granted for tractor rally and the results are there for us to see for ourselves! Most shocking indeed!
Why is it that we see maximum protesters from just Punjab and one or two other states only? Why is it that Gen Bajwa of Pakistani Army wanted Kartarpur Corridor to open fast and why huge hoardings of Khalistani Referendum 2020 not taken seriously? Why is it that drones from Pakistan were entering India and dropping weapons and still we took it lightly? It is high time that we wake up and stop this mockery of our national interests for the sake of appeasement of one religion alone. Why can’t we worship in our own country? My best friend Sageer Khan once said that “Even if Allah commands me to come to Pakistan I will refuse as nation, parents and religion can never be changed and so why should I go to Pakistan to worship? Why can’t I worship him in my own country? India is the best place for Muslims to live in.”
Movements on roads like the Shaheen Bagh sit-in by blocking road connecting two cities – Delhi and Noida for more than 100 days and now this protest against farm laws for more than 2 months are not a revolutionary upsurge as some suggest but symbol of “India Celebrating And Inviting Lawlessness, Indiscipline, Khalistani Agenda And Violence And Insulting India’s Pride Like Red Fort” which cannot be justified under any circumstances! Even all those Opposition parties who are lending their support – open or covert in any manner have only served in discrediting India as a safe place to live in! They have certainly not covered themselves in glory by hailing those who attacked our policemen and even tried to murder them by running them down under tractors!
It cannot be denied that every government has the prerogative to make new laws or make suitable changes in the existing ones. If Centre erred in not sending the farm bills to the Select Committee for discussion and in promulgating Ordinances and later converting it into law in a hurry as former Union Minister Ajit Singh points out, this by itself cannot be a justification to block rail routes as happened in Congress ruled states like Punjab and Rajasthan or block entry routes to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ruled Delhi. Is it not the common person who is bearing the maximum brunt of all this nonsense? How can PM, President and CJI allow ever all this nonsense to happen right under their very nose? Will this promote “rule of law” or “rule of jungle” where “Might is right” holds the ground? What are we trying to make of India?
Why thousands of crores of rupees are being allowed to be wasted due to such shameless, senseless and stupid blockades? Can farmers be above our nation and law? Can they smash vehicles, hail terror leaders like late Bhindrawale, try to run down police personnel with tractors, attack anyone who try to stop them with swords and call for gunning down PM Narendra Modi just like earlier late Mrs Indira Gandhi was gunned down? Certainly not!
How can the CJI maintain a conspicuous silence on all this? Why can’t he order prompt removal of protesters from all roads and rail tracks? Most baffling!
Why is blocking of road and rail tracks taken so lightly even by the Apex Court? Why it took so long for the Apex Court to deliver a ruling that condemned blocking of roads? Why still were farmers then allowed to block roads and why CJI didn’t order their prompt removal from roads?
Why is it that Apex Court stayed farm laws which many Judges like Justice Deepak Gupta of Supreme Court felt was not proper as it was not the remit of the Apex Court but why no such promptness was shown in ordering protesters to stop blocking of roads in Delhi and why no initiative was taken in this regard by the CJI? Why were the common people left to suffer in the cold? How can this be justified under any circumstances?
Why are farmers going overboard on this issue and why they are feeling more encouraged by Supreme Court’s inaction in making them vacate roads and increasing political support by parties who are just concerned about their vote banks thereby completely disregarding our national interests in the longer run? Why Rahul Gandhi instead of advising Centre to build bridges and not walls maintained a stoic silence when farmers were rampaging Delhi and desecrated even our national monuments and national pride – Red Fort? Why this dubious double standards?
Who is responsible for Centre ensuring that iron rods are hooked between two rows of cement barriers on a flank of the main highway at the Singhu border to further restrict the movement of protesters, agitating against the Centre’s new farm laws? It is those farmers themselves who indulged in lawlessness, violence and rampaging on Republic Day even after assuring the police that they would not indulge in violence of any kind due to which more than 500 police personnel got injured! Why Opposition leaders never say a word on this? Clearly, this only shows that there is more to it than meets the eye!
One still fervently hopes that good sense prevail over farmers also now and they see the dangerous game plan that is being played by some leaders who are only interested in serving their own vested agenda at the cost of farmers! Centre has taken a very balanced stand on this and has always agreed to hold talks time and again to review the farm laws instead of holding that it is non-negotiable! Foreign actors, leaders and even foreign countries have no right to meddle in India’s internal matters with clear design to malign India and this has been underscored by many celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar among others!
No doubt, this is no way to protest that you block road and rail tracks and become overjoyed that neither State nor Central Government acted tough and even Supreme Court refused to order prompt removal from these sites due to which people face maximum inconvenience and business worth thousands of crores of rupees is adversely affected! It is a no-brainer that there are some foreign powers and powerful terror groups who are behind all the sabotage that happened on 26 January and who don’t want that India should run smoothly on roads and rail tracks! Should PM, CJI and President allow them to have the last laugh by tolerating blockade of road and rail tracks quietly or should they display zero tolerance towards it as we have seen since independence till some time back when Shaheen Bagh episode spoiled everything? It is for them to introspect and decide on this! If not checked now this will become the most dangerous trend in India and our democratic system will be completely destroyed which we can certainly ignore only at the risk of our own peril!
Sanjeev Sirohi
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