Has Muslim identity eclipsed anti-CAA stir?

It seems that the massive protests which erupted against the NDA government at the Centre following the passage of contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill are dying out slowly with the possible exemption of some Muslim pockets. During the initial stages, the agitations were secular, but the Islamic character of the movement became visible quickly.

While many of the citizens who were genuinely concerned about CAA joined the stir early, the protests' Islamic identity has eroded the secular support base the movement had.

What was supposed to be an agitation against the Central government, at one point reached a juncture where it could be showcased as anti-Hindu by the right-wing. Slogans like 'la ilaha illalah, Allahu Akbar, Jinnah wali azadi and Hindutva ki kabar khudegi AMU ki dharti par' have added more brownie points to the communal frenzy.

After the police action in Jamia Millia Islamia, the emergence of two students Ayesha Renna and Ladeeda Sakhaloon as the face of protests did more harm than good to the movement. Ayesha's old Facebook posts condemning the execution of convicted terrorist Yakub Memon was widely circulated in social media and she had to deactivate her Facebook account in damage control.

Ayesha again landed in trouble when she criticised Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at an anti-CAA protest gathering in Kerala. Later she was heckled by the workers of CPI(M) and she had to apologise publicly for her criticism. All the footages from the protest venues and processions were high on Islamic symbolism.

The protesters got it wrong when they interchangeably used Hindu symbols against RSS/BJP. In one of the posters at Shaheen Bagh, a woman was seen wearing hijab and a bindi on her forehead. Above the image was written 'hum dekhenge' and beneath the poster, there was a fading Swastika sign. There are even videos of 'protests against the protesters of Shaheen Bagh' for blocking the roads and holding the local community's lives on standstill.

Opposition parties are all busy in formulating their tactics to consolidate the anti-BJP votes (read Muslim vote). But what political analysts and commentators fail to realise is a silent Hindu consolidation happening on ground zero which will hugely benefit the BJP in the run-up to the next general elections.

CAA-NRC combine can hence be the next 'Ayodhya like' mission for the party. In realistic terms, carrying a nation-wide NRC is a distant dream due to multiple impediments that can stall the entire process. It includes the requirement of huge amount of data, its collection expenditure and years to quantify it. Nationwide NRC was a trap laid by BJP for the Opposition, and they jumped the gun without proper calculation.

Another important aspect is the violent nature of anti-CAA protests in many parts of the nation. News channels aired disturbing videos of unruly mobs vandalising railway stations, burning trains and attacking security personnel. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed in one of his speeches at Jharkhand, "those indulging in arson can be identified by their clothes" and all of them were dressed up in typical Muslim clothes. Indian Railways calculated damage of property worth Rs 80 crore due to the CAA protests.

While citizens are concerned about the possible violation of their fundamental rights (in the form of CAA) forgetting Fundamental duties and damaging public property can be a double-edged sword. A neutral non-Muslim seeing the footage of Muslim mobs rioting on streets and simultaneously listening to the news of Hindu and Sikh girls getting forcefully converted in Pakistan can eventually result in counter polarisation aiding BJP's narrative.

There were newspaper reports of people associated with controversial Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) getting arrested in Assam for fuelling violence. The role of Islamic fundamentalist organisations in propagating fake news and mobilising civilians cannot be ruled out.

Also, political parties like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), AIUDF and Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are in the picture due to their electoral compulsions. AIMIM was successful in opening its account in Maharashtra and Bihar legislative assemblies.

With MIM aiming to enter West Bengal election in 2021, the consolidated Muslim vote bank of Trinamul Congress (TMC) will become vulnerable. Many of the regional parties boycotted the meeting called by Congress President Sonia Gandhi since none of them wanted to concede the role of the protagonist of anti-CAA struggle to the Congress party. In today's India, no national party can match the organisational strength of BJP and cadre level of RSS.

With the Opposition parties in a complete dilemma over their due course of action, conceding more time to BJP can have a catastrophic impact on the Opposition, both morally and politically. Anti-CAA struggle had become an agitation of Muslims for the Muslim cause with little or no secular space. The movement has lost its steam as the situation at the epicentres of the protests i.e. academic institutions are becoming normal.

With the Supreme Court considering the case on January 23rd, a positive judicial scrutiny for the government will make sure that the two-month long anti-CAA protests rest in oblivion. The biggest message emerging from the failure of the anti-CAA agitation is simple – never let religion to hijack people's movements in a secular nation.

(The writer is a master's student of History at University of Hyderabad)