New Delhi:<\/strong>\u00a0No leaders or political parties. No questions asked when people wanted to join. She says it was almost like visiting someone\u2019s home \u2014 local women coming out with warmth and hospitality of a kind rarely seen in Delhi. IANS spoke to journalist Seema Mustafa as she reconstructed the events that highlighted the mass movement for months in the capital.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd this was on the streets, the smiles, the reassurance of being together, the courage\u2026 I think the fact that it was not political, no politicians leading it, and the participation was voluntary and spontaneous, made it the center of the protest. This and the determination and resolve of the women, not to move until their demand for citizenship was met,\u201d says Mustafa, who has edited the recently released Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India\u2019 (Speaking Tiger Books).<\/p>\n The book is an anthology of voices of the women protesters at the core of the protests; ground reports and photographs by journalists including her, Seemi Pasha, Nazes Afroz, Mustafa Quraishi and Zeyad Masroor Khan; and essays by thinkers, writers, lawyers and activists including Nayantara Sahgal, Harsh Mander, Subhashini Ali, Nandita Haksar, Zoya Hasan, Apoorvanand, Enakshi Ganguly, Renuka Viswanathan, Sharik Laliwala, Sarover Zaidi, Samprati Pani, Nizam Pasha, and Anirban Bhattacharya.<\/p>\n The idea of the book came from publishers Ravi Singh and Renuka who were keen to document the movement and the initial discussions took place when Shaheen Bagh was active. \u201cThe initial intention was to document and understand it as soon as possible so we did get most of the material together early in the year, but the lockdown delayed the book by a few months,\u201d Seema tells IANS.<\/p>\n While the book, especially the essays, investigates the importance of Shaheen Bagh in the contemporary social and political climate, Seema says that as a journalist of many years standing, this was one of the biggest movements she had witnessed. Adding that through the years one had covered several protests, demonstrations on a host of important issues to do with India\u2019s democracy and Constitution, but Shaheen Bagh and the associated movements across India were clearly at a different level, she says, \u201cAs a journalist and student of contemporary politics, I needed to study and understand it, which is what I tried to do as it was important then, and will remain so owing to the many reasons our writers have pointed to in the book. I see it as an inclusive movement for democracy, and as probably the first movement in my living memory where the minorities came out en masse to publicly embrace the Constitution and the Indian flag, and thereby make it clear that they are as an integral part of India as any other.\u201d<\/p>\n For Seema, the protest is a model\u2019 one which did not witness any major incidents of violence and managed to trigger a collective sentiment. \u201cIt is strange, but I have seen that often one little unforeseen incident becomes a catalyst or a nuclear that stands out. Shaheen Bagh, where a group of women came out of their homes to sit-in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act was one such moment that caught India\u2019s imagination. And what should have by all counts remained a small localized protest just grew into a major protest of peace, love, and harmony. Scholars, artists, musicians, students, young and old, cutting across religions and classes just flocked to the site every night.\u201d<\/p>\n Ask what she feels about the movement\u2019s future in post-pandemic times, and the editor asserts, \u201cIt is difficult to say. Again, if I go by experience, I do not think it will continue in the same form. It might be replaced by something else altogether and find another expression. However, the important thing is not whether it continues in its physical form, but if it was able to coalesce India in harmony and love.\u201d<\/p>\n Talking about the Delhi government\u2019s attitude towards the protesters, and its silence\u2019 post-Delhi riots, Seema says that at one stage she thought that AAP was poised to be a major player in politics. \u201cNow, I somehow think that Kejriwal has lost the plot altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n Reacting to the central government\u2019s later assurance that NRC will not be implemented, the journalist and author feels that it will have to state its policy clearly and categorically for it to be understood and accepted. \u201cThere has to be one voice that clarifies, and not several voices that obfuscate,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n As the conversation veers towards the way the protest was covered by the media, with many media houses taking different positions\u2019, the veteran journalist adds, \u201cWe as journalists have hitched our wagon with the rich and powerful\u2014 and this began a long time ago, before the BJP came to power. Hence, how can we be fair and just? We have masters to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/cdn.siasat.com\/wp-content\/themes\/sahifa\/images\/googlenews.svg\")