Last night, poet @Bappadittoh had a scary episode in Mumbai, at the hands of an @Uber driver and @MumbaiPolice cops (see screenshots): a glimpse of scary India under NPR NRC CAA, where every person will be incentivised to suspect & turn in others & police can harass everyone. 
Basically an @Uber driver Rohit Singh (said he's from Bhopal) overheard an innocent phone conversation of a passenger, and called the cops to "turn in" and denounce @Bappadittoh as a "Communist" etc, and the police even discussed calling the ATS! This can happen to ANYONE.
The most chilling thing is, he said to @Bappadittoh : शुक्र करो की पुलिस के पास ले आया, कहीं और नहीं ले गया - be thankful I took you to the police, I could have taken you elsewhere. What a menacing threat - since "elsewhere" could mean lynching or death.
The @MumbaiPolice was polite to Bappa. What if @Bappadittoh were Muslim, or poor, or trans, or recognisably Dalit/Adivasi or any of the other categories that the police view as criminal by their very existence. He may have been tortured, forced to confess to crimes etc?
I am also forced to wonder, was @Bappadittoh targeted because he sounded Bengali? Is Banglabhashi a reason to be suspected of being Bangladeshi or pro Bangladeshi? Is it dangerous to be Bangladeshi? Remember how workers in Vijayvargeeya's house & in Bangalore were harassed?
If you think you needn't bother coz you are pro CAA, think again. Tomorrow this cd happen to YOU, for any reason at all. A quarrel with a neighbour, a run in with your boss or employee, or with a driver or passenger cd result in you being denounced as Doubtful Voter/Dissident.
. @OfficeofUT @AUThackeray @RahulGandhi @HemantSorenJMM In recent times you have all spoken of the need to protect civil liberties, Constitution. That's rare in politicians, & welcome. But Govts & police run by your parties aren't walking that talk.
. A young trans person was denounced, outed, tortured, harassed for "sedition" coz they raised slogans at Mumbai Pride. Protest actions as well as individuals in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Maharashtra etc are falling victim to this CULTURE of denouncing dissent as sedition.
Not only our main Opposition parties but we ourselves are falling prey to this culture. The organisers of QAM, Mumbai Pride threw the trans person under the bus. They supported how police & RW denouncers interpreted "rule of law". 377 was rule of law till recently, CAA is now.
I say all this, not to score PC points over our non BJP Opposition parties or QAM organisers. I say it to ask for introspection. Must we keep our various causes in silos? Must we not instead break open the silos and connect each others' causes? Aren't we all doomed if we don't?
As Pastor Niemoller reminded us, we can't afford to say, they came for xyz, and I didn't speak because I wasn't xyz - or else there'll be no one left to speak for us. Are we speaking up for each other? Or are we busy denouncing allies as too liberal, leftist, radical etc?
Btw I realised I forgot to say, @Bappadittoh had a comrade of @cpimlliberation as a friend. That friend told our Mumbai comrade Shyam Gohil who could go the police thana & help. Had Bappa been a migrant worker, or had he not known anyone to call for help, where wd he be now?
Must we not worry if our entire speech (or our social media presence) speaks to a clique and attacks allies and says not a word about the actual fascists and how the latter threaten us all, even as we run each other down and label each other as 'musanghi' or closet Sanghi etc?
Must we not worry if we are able to talk about ourselves as liberal or queer or feminist or leftist or women or environmentalist or Dalit or Adivasi or Muslim without showing the least introspection about how our struggles, experiences could and should connect to each other?
Can we not find mind space to speak to each other beyond posturing and hostility enacted for our respective social media audiences? Can we not ask each other tough questions without making an enemy of each other and denouncing / blocking each other?
