‘RSS has made Muslims their target like Hitler made Jews,’ Digvijay Singh says, ‘India is now open-air prison’

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday criticized the legal system, asserting that bail becomes an exception for Muslims, while joining the families of jailed activists, including former JNU research scholar Umar Khalid, in calling for their release.

Singh referenced a recent Supreme Court observation that ‘bail is the rule and jail is the exception.’

Also Read: Umar Khalid’s bail plea dismissed in 2020 Delhi riots case

Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) to mark four years since the arrest of several activists linked to the anti-CAA-NRC protests of 2019-20, Singh also condemned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), PTI reported.

He claimed that the RSS had targeted Muslims in India in a manner reminiscent of the persecution of Jews under Hitler’s regime in Germany.

While expressing solidarity with the jailed activists, Singh said he comes from an area where the RSS is referred to as a “nursery”.

“I have always known them closely. They believe neither in democracy nor in the Constitution. The way Hitler made Jews his target, they have made Muslims their target... The way the ideology has infiltrated at every level, it is dangerous for democracy,” he said.

Also Read: Umar Khalid’s bail plea: Delhi HC judge Amit Sharma recuses from Delhi riots case

“The RSS is an unregistered body, it has no membership, no account. If someone is caught, they refuse to accept him as their member, as they did when Nathuram Godse was arrested. They've have penetrated everywhere in the system... We need to do a serious introspection,” he said.

“Bail is a rule, and jail is an exception, then what is the reason that for Muslims, bail becomes an exception?” he asked.

Umar Khalid's father SQR Ilyas, meanwhile, raised concerns over stringent laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act under which Khalid and others have been arrested.

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“Whether it is Umar, or Gulfisha or those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case... These draconian laws framed inside Parliament are meant to curb terror, but they are used against common people. The BJP brought POTA, the Congress scrapped it, but then brought back all its provisions under the UAPA,” Ilyas said.

He questioned why action is not taken against police officials concerned when a person is found to be innocent after years of trial. He also mocked the use of names like “Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta” for witnesses being used by Delhi Police in the case.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the activists who continue to be in jails will one day be seen as “warriors of democracy”.

Also Read: Bhima Koregaon case: 16 arrested, 1 died in custody, some got bail- a 2023 update

“Those arrested during the Emergency were seen as the warriors of democracy, it is the same case today,” he said.

He also said that the anti-CAA/NRC protests of Shaheen Bagh was not just a protest against the citizenship law, but an “equal citizenship movement”.

“The country has become like an open air prison,” he said.

Nargis Saifi, the wife on jailed activist Khalid Saifi, also questioned the “selective application” of the “bail is the rule, jail is the exception” principle and said her children are growing up without a father.

Also Read: CAA: Why are Muslims worried? What makes Citizenship Amendment Act controversial? Explained

“Khalid raised his voice for his rights, so he was jailed. He has not been given bail even after four-and-a-half years, while those charged for rape, corruption, are being let out on bail,” she said.

Shakra Begum, the mother of Gulfisha Fatima—an activist arrested for alleged conspiracy in the Delhi riots—broke down and admitted she lacked the courage to speak.

Meanwhile, Noorjahan, the mother of another jailed activist, Athar Khan, revealed that she has been unable to communicate with her son via video call for a year and a half.

"Someone did a hunger strike in the jail, and my son was blamed for it. They have not allowed us video calls for a year and half. His grandmothers are old, they can't visit him in the jail. Now they can't see him on video calls either," she said.

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Actor Swara Bhasker, stand-up comic Kunal Kamra, and Sanjay Rajoura also showed support for the jailed activists.

Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Umar Khalid, and others face charges under the anti-terror law UAPA and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code. They are accused of being the "masterminds" behind the February 2020 riots in North-East Delhi, which resulted in 53 deaths and over 700 injuries.

The communal clashes in North-East Delhi erupted on February 24, 2020, as violence between supporters and opponents of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act escalated, leading to at least 53 deaths and around 200 injuries.

(With inputs from PTI)