Rewind 2019, a “peaceful” protest in the Bharatiya capital Delhi led by a group of women blocking a major road. The purpose of the protest – was to prevent the Bharatiya government from passing a law that called for granting citizenship to persecuted minorities in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Basically, the so-called peaceful protestors were protesting against a law meant to save Hindus and other minorities in south Asian Islamic countries from persecution, abuse, and torture.

This tells us very well about the motive of the protests and the scant regard that the protestors probably had for the human rights of anyone who was not a Muslim. The Shaheen Bagh protests became a theatrical playground with all sorts of stakeholders from woke celebrities like Swara Bhaskar to non-governmental organizations to opposition political parties of Bharat seizing the moment to grab their share of the limelight.

One wouldn’t be surprised if 70 percent of the protestors probably had no clue about CAA or why were they protesting the Bill in the first place. But such is the power of orchestrated mobs that any rationality takes a backseat.

Now, flash forward to 2023. The same Shaheen Bagh scenario is in danger of repeating itself. This time, the theatrical backdrop is the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Hamas, a terrorist organization, claiming to represent Palestine, is already garnering support from probably hundreds of millions across the globe. Since Hamas attacked Israel and Israel retailed, pro-Palestine protests and rallies have been happening unabated in cities in Europe, the US, the Middle East, Asia, etc.

On the face of it, these solidarity rallies might seem, like the right thing to do, talking about the right to life of normal Palestinians amidst the growing Israel-Hamas conflict. But the problem is most of these “protests” are perpetrating the narrative that Hamas is synonymous with Palestine and that by declaring war on Hamas, Israel is essentially calling for the genocide of Palestinians. None of these “demonstrations” are distinguishing between Hamas and Palestine and condemning the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed at least 1,400 people. Rather, they seem to be justifying the attack on the lines of something like: what do you expect if you have been subjecting the people in the Gaza Strip for so many years?

These protests have made their way into Bharat as well. The police cracked down on a number of such protests in October. A group of students and the left activists protesting outside the Israeli embassy in Delhi were detained. In another incident, a mob holding pro-Palestine protests at Jantar Mantar was detained by the police. Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh police cracked down on multiple such protests happening at various places. Pro-Palestine protestors have been detained in Maharashtra as well.

The government of Bharat seems to have learned from its previous mistakes. Also, this time, holding pro-Palestine protests is unfortunately synonymous with glorifying the likes of Hamas and thus glorifying the “right to be a terrorist’ by that logic. The government seems to have understood that and is therefore taking a tough stand to prevent a major scene from building up.

But the Bharatiya woke media, and a certain part of the international media doesn’t seem to be very chuffed about Bharat’s official stand on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Thus, misinformation warfare labelling Bharat on the side of “colonizers and Zionists” has already begun.

“ A country with its own colonial past is now standing with a colonialist state: Why is Modi’s India cracking down on pro-Palestinian support”?, “Shh, Don’t Support India’s Official Position on Palestine or Sec 153A Will be Imposed on You”, “ Pro-Israel rallies allowed in India but Palestine solidarity sees crackdown”, these are a few examples of news reports and commentaries coming out on the issue from media publications like The NewArab, NewsClick, and AlJazeera.

After giving a detailed account of the pro-Palestine protests in Bharat that were reportedly stopped by the Indian police, the NewArab report goes on to say that “After October 7, India saw a rise in pro-Israel rallies, organized mainly by Hindu right-wing groups. Multiple Indian right-wing users on social media offered their services to the Israeli forces”. The report further insinuates that “Prominent Indian journalists also became a part of spreading the fake news of “beheading babies” in Israel on social media platforms and on their news broadcasts”.

It’s strange to see allegations of bias and partiality coming from Middle Eastern media publications whose very purpose of existence is to defend anything and everything done by people belonging to a particular community. But anyhow, coming back to the media criticism of Bharat’s partiality towards Israel and its singling out of pro-Palestine rallies for a crackdown, these stories present the incomplete picture.

The other side of the story, the glorification of Hamas terrorists by the organizers of these rallies and even the virtual participation of some of these terrorists in these pro-Palestine rallies held in Bharat is something the likes of Al Jazeera and NewsClick won’t tell you about. It doesn’t suit their agenda.

Former Hamas Chief Khaled Mashal virtually addressed a pro-Palestine rally in Kerela a couple of days back. The rally was organized by Jamaat-e-Islami’s youth wing Solidarity Youth Movement which has also launched a campaign titled “Uproot Hindutva and Apartheid Zionism”.

Since the rally took place in Kerela, a state governed by communists, no police action was taken against the organizers. But the BJP state President K. Surendran went vocal against the participation of Hamas leaders in a pro-Palestine rally.

This overlapping of support for Palestine and support for a terrorist organization like Hamas is what worries the Bharatiya government rightly, and that’s the reason why it’s cracking down on these rallies. It’s not a random bunch of sensitive and conscientious people holding pro-Palestine rallies. These protests are organized by far-left groups, organizations, radical Islamic bodies, and various other organizations with a proven track record of anti-Bharat activities. It is natural that any sensible government would crackdown on these protests, lest they become events for sympathizing with terrorists and even worse, sites of some untoward incidents that become a threat to the safety and security of the citizens of Bharat.

This is just the beginning. The anti-Bharat lobby would leave no stone unturned in creating unrest in the country in the name of the Israel-Palestine conflict, especially in the run-up to the general elections coming up next year. The government needs to be more vocal about its condemnation of the terrorism perpetrated by Hamas and designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. Israel’s Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon recently underlined Israel’s expectation from Bharat that Bharat declares Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Israeli Ambassador elaborated that Hamas was already designated a terrorist organization by 40 countries across the world and that he hoped Bharat would follow suit soon.

Hamas has been already designated as a terrorist organization by countries like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, etc.

Bharat needs to be more assertive in its condemnation of terror especially in the context of the Israel-Hamas conflict to prevent another Shaheen Bagh from happening.

Rati Agnihotri

References (articles I referred to)

https://www.newarab.com/features/why-modis-india-cracking-down-pro-palestinian-support
https://www.newsclick.in/shh-dont-support-indias-official-position-palestine-or-sec-153a-will-be-imposed-you
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/25/pro-israel-rallies-allowed-in-india-but-palestine-solidarity-sees-crackdown