New Delhi: Members of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protest have called Shahzad Ali, who joined the BJP Sunday, an “inconsequential” part of their agitation and accused him of political opportunism. 

Ali, who was affiliated to the Shaheen Bagh protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act passed last year, joined the BJP Sunday, and his decision was followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accusing the BJP of having “scripted” the entire protest. 

Ali, who runs a mobile and accessories trading shop in Shaheen Bagh, said he joined the BJP in order to begin “a dialogue” with the party. “Yes, I protested against the CAA. But the end of every protest is a dialogue. I wish to hold a dialogue with BJP leaders about the CAA,” Ali told ThePrint.

He, however, refused to answer whether or not he still wishes for the CAA to be scrapped — a demand that was at the heart of the anti-CAA protests, which swept the country from mid-December to late March, before the Covid-19 pandemic put an end to them.

Shaheen Bagh was one of the most prominent protest venues. 

Reacting to Shahzad Ali news, the protesters of Shaheen Bagh said he is attempting to malign the entire movement that never had one face. “Hundreds and thousands of people would participate in the protest, there was no one face or one leader of the protest. If at all, it was the dadis and nanis who kept the protest going,” Ritu Kaushik, one of the leading organisers of the Shaheen Bagh protest, told ThePrint.

Kaushik also said Ali was never allowed to take centre stage. 

“His role and contribution was always very inconsequential. He was politically motivated, as has become obvious now,” said another protester, who didn’t want to be named.

Incidentally, in February 2019, Ali was made the Delhi head of Rashtriya Ulema Council — a party that has led several anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh. RUC general secretary Tahir Madni was arrested by the Azamgarh police in February for the protests, and was released in May.

Ali’s stint with the RUC lasted only a couple of months, after which he was seen meeting Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, photographs of which are doing the rounds now. But Ali has denied having officially joined the party, saying he was only meeting Yadav “in the capacity of a social activist”.

Shaheen Bagh scripted: AAP

The AAP, which returned to power in Delhi at a time the Shaheen Bagh protest was at its peak, has now said Ali’s joining the BJP shows the entire protest was “scripted by the BJP“, and that the party’s leadership dictated each and every move of the agitators for electoral benefits in Delhi polls.  

“The whole Shaheen Bagh protest was scripted by the BJP. The topmost leadership of the BJP scripted each and every step of these protests,” AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said Monday.

In January 2020, a month before the Delhi assembly elections, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had extended his support to the Shaheen Bagh protest.

“I stand with Shaheen Bagh… Kejriwal openly opposes CAA,” Sisodia had said at a News18 conclave. 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had during his election campaigning, however, called for clearance of the protest site, saying “we would have cleared the area within two hours” if the Delhi government had control over the police. 

“It’s very unfair that AAP, which never actively supported us in our fight against CAA, has decided to suddenly cash in on the controversy,” Kaushik said. 

Political analyst and editor of ‘Rise of Saffron Power’, Mujibur Rehman, said the AAP’s assertions are “baseless and far-fetched”. 

“There is no evidence to show that Shaheen Bagh was the BJP’s brainchild,” Rehman said. “If anything, AAP benefited hugely from the movement as many Muslims who traditionally voted for the Congress actually abandoned them and voted for AAP instead. AAP’s Amanatullah Khan was a beneficiary of this.”

Amanatullah Khan won from Delhi’s Okhla constituency, which is home to Shaheen Bagh. 

On AAP’s accusation of the Shaheen Bagh movement having “polarised” the elections, Rehman said the BJP may have overall benefited from the polarisation. “Generally speaking, BJP always benefits from polarisation. But that doesn’t mean the movement can be painted as being BJP’s creation,” he added. 

Ahead of the Delhi polls, the BJP had even accused the AAP of “sponsoring” the Shaheen Bagh protest and urged the Election Commission to include expenses incurred on them in the expenditure of AAP candidates.

Over 50 from Shaheen Bagh have joined party: BJP

Delhi BJP leader Nighat Abbas has said many people from the Muslim community joined the BJP along with Ali — over 50 from Shaheen Bagh and the rest from Okhla and Nizamuddin — including those who supported the CAA as well as those who opposed it. 

“They (Congress and AAP) misled the community on CAA. The community, particularly the people of Shaheen Bagh, has now understood that CAA is not going to take away citizenship but give it,” Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said. 

Until the February Delhi elections, the BJP had made the Shaheen Bagh protest a central poll plank. “These people will enter your house, will abduct your sisters and mothers, rape them, kill them,”  BJP MP Parvesh Verma had said about the Shaheen Bagh protesters. 

In a campaign speech ahead of the Delhi elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had asked voters to “press the button with such anger that Shaheen Bagh feels the current”.

“What is surprising is that BJP doesn’t mind associating itself with the very same protesters it had earlier demonised and accused of being rapists and abductors,” said another, who did not wish to be identified.

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