Elderly women protesters of Shaheen Bagh meet L-G to press their demands

New Delhi: A delegation of Shaheen Bagh protesters Tuesday met Delhi lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal and senior Delhi Police officers, 37 days after a sit-in protest

New Delhi: A delegation of Shaheen Bagh protesters Tuesday met Delhi lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal and senior Delhi Police officers, 37 days after a sit-in protest began in the south Delhi locality against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens(NRC).

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Since December 16, around 500 protesters have blocked the Delhi-Noida border at Shaheen Bagh near Kalindi Kunj to protest against the CAA and the NRC. The protesters have erected a stage on one carriageway towards Noida while the other carriageway towards Delhi has been blocked with a 30-foot high map of India made of iron. The blockade at such a busy stretch has led to massive traffic jams on Mathura road, Ring Road and the DND Flyway throughout the day.

Since then, the police have had several back-door meetings with protesters, during which the police appealed to them to vacate the road but all in vain. Protesters have continued with their agitation, throwing out of gear the traffic, ambulance services and the commute of school-going children.

on Tuesday, accompanied by senior police officers, a group of elderly women protesters met the L-G and handed over a representation, in which they voiced their concerns over the new citizenship Act.

The L-G’s office said Baijal appealed to protesters to maintain peace and call off their agitation in view of inconvenience caused to patients (at least two major hospitals are located in the vicinity), daily commuters and local residents.

Reiterating that protesters will not vacate the spot until the government revokes the CAA, NRC and NPR (national population register), 75-year-old Sarwari Begum, said, “We were invited by the L-G’s office for a meeting and we have conveyed our decision to the L-G. He said no one will force us to disperse. He has assured us that he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah highlighting our demands.”

“The delegation assured us that they would positively convey the message to the other protesters of Shaheen Bagh,” read a statement by the L-G’s office.

Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south east), said, “We facilitated their meeting. They wanted to meet the L-G and submit their representation.”

POLICE USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO APPEAL

Meanwhile, the police have started using social media platforms to appeal to protesters to call off the road blockade. On Monday the police wrote, “We have already appealed to you once before. Meanwhile, more complaints have been received regarding inconvenience due to blockade of Road No.13A, particularly to school children who are facing extreme hardship in reaching their schools, coaching centres and private tuitions. Their parents have expressed deep anxiety in view of forthcoming Board examinations. Daily commuters, local residents and businesspersons are also facing acute harassment. “

In response to police’s tweet, a few users, claiming to be Shaheen Bagh protesters (HT could not independently verify their identities) replied that they, too, were facing ‘hardships’ because of the new citizenship law.

Another user replied with a video of a group of people opening a barricade and allowing a school van to pass through. But police said such videos are only “half truths”.

A police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “They may have opened a barricade and cleared the road at one spot, which is more than a kilometre away from the sit-in protest, and allowed cabs from Shaheen Bagh to go to Noida . Both the carriageways are blocked. No school bus or cab from Noida, Faridabad, Sarita Vihar or parts of south Delhi can pass through the protest site. This is a lie spread on social media.”

In another tweet two days ago, the Delhi Police appealed to protesters to understand the sufferings that the blockade is causing to residents of Delhi and NCR, the elderly, emergency response vehicles and patients.

Many Twitter users replied to the police’s tweet. One of them wrote, “Sir, these people can go through the other way home, office, hospital, but what about the mental torture we are facing... (sic)” .