By Hasan Akram
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Tejashwi Yadav is facing strong criticism for his silence over the arrest of his party leader Meeran Haider who actively participated in anti-CAA and NRC protests outside Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi.
Scores of people took to Twitter and questioned his silence sharing their opinions with #TejashwiChuppiTodo. Poet and activist Nabiya Khan said that Yadav’s silence on the arrest of Haider shows that the RJD looks at Muslims only as a vote bank, not a community whose right to life and freedom needs to be protected. That’s the sad truth.
Haider, who was arrested in April on charges of his alleged role in the Delhi violence, is the chief of RJD’s Delhi Youth Wing.
Several of Twitteratis shared a snapshot of Yadav’s tweet wherein he had thanked Haider for providing food and relief items to migrant workers. “His dear leader @yadavtejashwi thanked him for distributing ration and helping poor in the lockdown. But he did not utter a word till Meeran was sent to jail for no reason,” a twitter handle IndiTruth wrote.
Haider is a PhD student in Jamia and he is a well-known face in the campus politics of the varsity.
Like Meeran, the Delhi Police has arrested several anti-CAA activists in connection with the Delhi violence that killed more than 50 people, most of them being Muslims. Those arrested include a pregnant woman named Safoora Zargar.