Haldwani Row: Will Protest Turn Out To Be Shaheen Bagh 2.0?

Haldwani Row: Ahead of protesting against the state and the online shills spreading fake news, the Haldwani issue is turning into Shaheen Bagh 2.0. Several are agitating while holding up posters, coordinated crying and involving kids and women since December 28^th 2022 in Banbhoolpura district of Uttarakhand. Mostly Muslims, have been protesting against the authority. Within accordance a High Court order, they launched a drive to clear encroachments from Railway land in the area.

Mass Protest In Haldwani Over Encroachment

The agitators have been making insinuations about how the State is persecuting them because they are Muslim. According to the reports, around 4000 families, the majority of who are Muslims have been staying in the area for decades on the 29 acres of railway land that has been encroach upon by the residents. For years, railway authorities have contended that encroachment is impeding growth and expansion efforts.

However, on December 27, a strategy was developed to eliminate encroachments on railway land in the Banbhoolpura district. The master plan was developed during a high-level meeting involving administrative authorities and ADRM railways in response to a recent Uttarakhand High Court ruling for the elimination of encroachments.

Uttarakhand Hight Court On Haldwani Row

Ahead of the issue, the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the authorities to evict forthwith the unauthorized occupants to vacate the premises from the railway land adjoining Haldwani Railway Station, called as Gaffur Basti. The action was initiated on December 29 after providing residents with a week prior notice.

Moreover, in according to the court orders, the residents of the area, who lived in on encroached railway land were also asked to surrender their licensed weapons and guns with the administration before the process of removing encroachments began.

The issue over railway land encroachment in the Haldwani area dates back to 2007 when railway officials conducted eviction operations for land segmentation and clearance of encroachment. It did, despite that result in fights and arson, as well as demonstrations and stone-pelting.

Also Read: Sonia Gandhi Admitted To Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

Congress On Haldwani Row

On the 2nd of January, Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi tweeted in Hindi that represented by Salman Khurshid, he had approached the Supreme Court against the eviction drive. He said he had approached the court against the demolition of the homes of the “oppressed”. So far, we have been given no context by Pratapgarhi as to how the residents of Haldwani were being “oppressed”.

Moreover, Aarfa Khanam, a Congress politician and prominent attorney from Delhi, had gone live on Facebook to discuss the issue. She said that the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party administration is targeting the region because the majority of the population in the area is Muslim. “We respect the judiciary. But what kind of justice is this that you make fifty thousand people homeless but you didn’t make any arrangements for their rehabilitation” Khanam said.

The protesters are being that being supported by Congress MLA Sumit Hridayesh and Samajwadi Party in-charge Abdul Matin Siddiqui and general secretary Shoeb Ahmad. Notably, the matter in which Zubair and several other Muslim leaders have raised their voices is the matter of illegal encroachment of the railway land in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani area.

Agitators Protesting In Biting Cold; Netizens Reaction

Ahead of the several cold waves, the agitators are protesting along with kids and women against the encroachment act in Haldwani. Looking into the situation, the protest pattern is just the same as Shaheen Bagh.

A Journalist tweeted a video in Hindi, about how the residents of Haldwani were out, protesting in the biting cold. He also said that he would stand in solidarity with them against the state.

In the video, the man delivering a speech to the protesting residents could hear invoking the name of Allah and crying, in a synchronized manner with the crowd. Apart from the obvious religious overtones, what stood out was the man talking incessantly about how women and children were being rendered homeless by the state’s action.

Mohammad Zubair are shared about the protest.  Through his post, it was evident that children were being used in the Haldwani protest, just like they were being used in the Shaheen Bagh protest, to invoke sympathy.

The other trope that we see getting repeated is that of “poor, destitute, helpless Muslims” protesting in the biting cold of December. This is the same trope we saw during the Shaheen Bagh protests.

-Bharat Express