Shaheen Bagh BJP sponsored? AAP view 'misogynist, patriarchal, undemocratic'

By A Representative

Five gender rights organizations -- Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, Delhi;​ National Federation of Indian Women, Delhi Unit; Centre for Struggling Women; Saheli; and.​ Swastik Mahila Samiti -- describing the recent Aaam Aadmi Party (AAP) statement that the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) movement in Shaheen Bagh was scripted by the BJP as “atrocious”, have said that this suggests AAP is not a gender just party.
Pointing out that if till now BJP has been making “vilification” with a slew of “communal” and “sexist” allegations against it, the five organizations said, “The AAP’S latest attempt to paint it as a ‘scripted movement’ is a pathetic effort to take refuge in cowardice”, adding, this suggests there is now “enough reason” to view AAP’s view of the Shaheen Bagh movement as “misogynist, low-moral, and patriarchal and undemocratic.”
Calling the Shaheen Bagh movement was “a spontaneous outrage by the women around Jamia who adopted the age-old technique of sit-ins till they got a just hearing”, in a joint communiqué they said, “The brutality of the police on students, the injustice of the CAA/NRC/NPR and the fact that the government was not willing to hear any democratic voices, galvanized the women of the area to stand up and fight for their rights.”
Pointing out that “they did it by sitting down on a section of the road, reading the Constitution and re-visiting the history of the country that gave India to Indians”, the communiqué claims, “The BJP has always treated women as second class citizens to be controlled and used to promote bigotry and patriarchy, and promote hate”, suggesting, AAP is just following BJP’s footsteps.

The communiqué said,”The women of Shaheen Bagh defied the stereotype they had built for Muslim women as helpless and pathetic. They showed that Muslim women were not backward, illiterate, repressed, oppressed and in need of salvation. The women were educated, aware, knew their rights and could communicate as articulately as any scholar.”

It continued, “For the first time in the history of the country, it was not the liberals, the political ideologues, the traditional leadership and men who were at the forefront. The BJP was shaken by the kind of support the women received from the educated and the uneducated sections of society.”
Accusing AAP of “playing a dubious game since the beginning of the passing of the CAA”, the communiqué said, “From the vague stand that no foreigners should be allowed as there were no jobs or resources for them, they graduated to calling the protests across the city a hindrance to traffic and damaging to the economy. The cause was inconsequential to them.”
According to the gender rights groups, “Not once did the AAP leaders even bother to talk to the students and protestors across the city. During the elections, AAP went with the tactic of the BJP to declare the protests to be a ‘law and order problem’. Their line was, if the police was in under our control, we would have cleared the protests in a matter of days.”
Demanding that AAP should “apologize to women who demanded nothing less than our Constitutionally-protected fundamental rights in the most peaceful manner known in history”, the communiqué said, “The attempt to potray them as a faceless, mindless herd who can be led/misled, is offensive.”
It added, “If the AAP is too spineless to stand up to the unjust CAA, and thinks that dehumanizing or belittling communities as naïve or brainless, they need to check their moral compass. Clearly, their lust for power and office is converting them into opportunists who have failed the mandate of the people of Delhi which voted to bring them back to power in 2019.”