The pre-Sangh Parivar India signifies an era of the country standing with Palestinian people in their battle to reclaim their homeland from the invaders. Now a paradigm shift has occurred as the rulers, irrespective of BJP and allies, Congress or CPM, try to portray themselves as supporting the cause of Palestinians on the one hand, and suppress any activity of support to Palestinians from the people on the other hand.
A nationwide crackdown on pro-Palestine protests, filing cases and arresting protesters, has taken place even as the Indian government continues to support Palestine’s full membership at the United Nations, a two-state solution, and condemned the loss of life in Gaza at least six times since October 2023.
Programmes in support of Palestine on the campuses are getting cancelled due to the intervention of the authorities and strong actions are initiated against those who support the Palestine cause in the country. Gurugram University has cancelled a scheduled talk on the Palestinian struggle, which was to be delivered by prominent political scientist Prof Zoya Hasan and chaired by Prof Dinesh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of the university. University officials cited concerns about potential security issues and the risk of creating divisions within the student body for cancelling the event.
17 cases have been registered in Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir in which at least 51 people have been named and booked for posting on social media or organising or taking part in pro-Palestine rallies in India under various sections of the law, including the stringent provisions of the UAPA, since the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestine.
These people include a 20-year-old shopkeeper who waved a Palestinian flag during a Muharram procession in Uttar Pradesh, students who took part in a solidarity march on their college campus in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, and a young man from Jammu who distributed pamphlets asking people to use Indian-made products rather than ones from Israel.
In Kerala, a state ruled by the CPM-led left front the ATS questioned the elderly parents of Rejaz M Sheeba Sydeek, a 26-year-old activist and freelance journalist, reportedly due to his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.
The Kerala Police also arrested six students for putting up posters in support of Palestine and denouncing Starbucks outside one of the outlets of the coffee company in Kozhikode.
The Union Government is required to clarify the information that arms and ammunition are being supplied to Israel from India.
Those in power should abstain from running with the hare and hunting with the hound on the Palestinian issue and honour the statement of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation that “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English and France to the French.”