Citizens 'Break the Silence' at the #NotInMyName Protest

Thousands of people assembled in the multi-city protests, “Not in My Name” to express their anger against the mob violence in the name of cow protection and religious beliefs. In New Delhi, the streets of Jantar Mantar flooded with people holding placards that read: "Break the Silence", "No Place for Islamophobia" and "Shed Hate not Blood" among others.

Students, workers, housewives, academics, journalists, activists, politicians, and common citizens took to streets to express their anger. Among those, were the family members of 15-year-old Junaid and Pehlu Khan.

Mohammad Asaruddin, twenty-two-year-old cousin of Junaid, read out a poem named “From Junaid in Heaven to his Mother”.

“Lot of people here are talking about what the government should do and what the government shouldn’t do. I think that the government is doing exactly what it plans to do. It has got an agenda and the people should understand what their agenda is’, said CPIM leader Subhashini Ali.

Subhashini Ali also said: “the government wishes to dump poor people and rules for the rich by dividing the society. It is not merely the killing of Junaid, it is the destruction of the right to live and express ourselves”, Subhashini Ali also exposed the hidden agendas of BJP.

Questioning the silence of Modi over lynching, Bezwada Wilson, Safai Karmachari Andolan national convener, said: “things which happen are not the culture of India at all. Instantly you developed hatred within the majority and started to lynch the people. This cannot be accepted in any human society and particularly in India. The prime minister must come and say what his stand on this is.  Whether he is there with the lynching mob or the citizens of the country?”

“Lynch mob is a new strategy adopted by RSS, BJP and VHP people… The minorities are not able to give their opinion or voice their opposition. So, that is the strategy to scare everybody, to create an environment where people afraid of protesting,” said Abha Dev Habib, professor at the University of Delhi.

Gautam Navlakha, human rights activist and journalist, remarked the importance of such a protest. He said: “all the things which happen are beyond outreach now”.