Two of a kind

Kannan Gopinathan and Abdur Rahman are now working to achieve the same goal

20-Kannan-Gopinathan-and-Abdur-Rahman Ire and fire: Kannan Gopinathan (far left) and Abdur Rahman have been protesting the BJP’s perceived communal agenda | Salil Bera

SHAHEEN BAGH HAS become a metaphor for resistance. For those who have been protesting the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Shaheen Bagh symbolises nationalism. For those who oppose the agitation, it threatens the unity of the country.

I don’t think democracy turns into dictatorship because of leaders; it does so because of the silence of citizens. —Kannan Gopinathan, former IAS officer

Shaheen Bagh has also become a place of political pilgrimage. Singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad, Carnatic maestro T.M. Krishna, classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal and sundry pop bands have performed before the motley crew of women protesters at Shaheen Bagh. And the performances have given a new lease of life to protest poetry. Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s 1979 protest anthem ‘Hum dekhenge (We will see)’ got a new audience in millennials, while Bollywood lyricist Varun Grover’s ‘Hum kagaz nahi dikhayenge (We will not show the documents)’ became the leading slogan of the anti-CAA agitation. Hussain Haidry’s ‘Hindustani Musalmaan’, written in 2016, has given a syncretic meaning to the Muslim identity in these polarising times.

In mainstream politics, firebrands like Kanhaiya Kumar have raised the banner of dissent. His Jan Gan Man Yatra through Bihar, which will go to the polls later this year, was attacked seven times in the past few weeks, but his rallies continue to draw crowds.

The protests have also won support from people who are not activists or politicians. One of them is Kannan Gopinathan, who quit IAS in August after the Union government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. While Gopinathan’s decision did not immediately make him popular—as the country seemed aligned with government’s decision—the anti-CAA agitation has taken him places. He has visited more than 70 cities and towns in 20 states, holding public meetings and “learning” in the process.

“I don’t give speeches; instead, I ask people questions to make them understand what is happening to them,” Gopinathan told THE WEEK. “For example, in Bihar, I asked people about [Article] 370. They said it was needed to help Kashmir grow. So, I asked them: There is no 370 in Bihar; has it got industry and jobs? Has it prospered?”

When a person kills himself because he is unemployed, he said, society sees it as his failure. “But I tell them it is the government’s policies that is fuelling unemployment,” said Gopinathan. “It is the failure of the government. Similarly, misinformation is spread about the CAA and the NRC (National Register of Citizens). This government is using hatred to make people fight each other.”

He said the process of updating the National Population Register and preparing NRC would lead to too much government control and corruption. “The NRC will affect not just Muslims, but the poor, dalits and women as well,” he said. “In Assam, 69 per cent affected were women. It is just like the population control issue, which can be framed as north-south issue or Hindu-Muslim issue. How this question is framed affects the narrative. Now, the CAA is anti-poor, but the government has given it a communal turn by saying that, ‘If you don’t have documents but you are a Hindu, you will automatically get [citizenship].”

His stint as a bureaucrat stands him in good stead while explaining the complexity of the issue to laypersons. Born in Kottayam in Kerala, Gopinathan is fluent in Hindi, which he picked up during his days at the Birla Institute of Technology at Mesra, Jharkhand. He has also worked in Noida and is married to Himani Pathak from Haryana. Now unemployed, Gopinathan said he would have to address the “livelihood issue” at some point. He is open to entering politics.

Like Gopinathan, Abdur Rahman, too, quit his job as a protest against the government. Rahman was special inspector general of police in Mumbai when the CAA was passed by Parliament last December. The 1997-batch officer took to Twitter to announce that he was quitting IPS as a protest against the “blatantly communal and unconstitutional” legislation.

Rahman, who holds a BTech from IIT Kanpur, has written a book on the socioeconomic condition of Muslims. He has been travelling to various cities and protest venues to speak about why the CAA is dangerous. “The CAA and the NRC together become a deadly combination,” Rahman told THE WEEK. “Morally, the government has no right to conduct the NRC. It is not needed in a country where over 27 per cent of the population is illiterate and 40 per cent are below the poverty line.”

Rahman believes that the CAA violates the basic structure of the Constitution. He said people had voted for the BJP in 2014 and 2019 because of its development promises, not for implementing the NRC. “Questioning the citizenship of people is against the ethos of the country,” he said. “That is why I am opposing it and educating people about it.”

Rahman says he has no concrete plans for the future. He is now focusing on the anti-CAA agitation, and says he does not have political motives. Both Rahman and Gopinathan are, in a way, striving to achieve the same goal—stir up a healthy debate and keep the Indian democracy vibrant. “When I resigned it was silence all around on the Kashmir issue,” said Gopinathan. “I don’t think democracy turns into dictatorship because of leaders; it does so because of the silence of citizens.”