Developments

(5th March 2004)

It has been three days since Shreya Gandhi fainted. Protests throughout the country are ongoing on full scale.

78 year old Himanshu Adalla, one of BP's MP candidate's father from Karnataka, was declared dead today after fasting for six days straight without any food and water.

People like Anna Hazare, Ramdev Baba, Sadhguru, all Shankaracharyas, RSS, have also come forward for the #WeWantJustice movement. The whole Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and even many Muslims and Ambedkarites have also joined the movement. Mass Satyagrah is going throughout the country, which if goes any longer, will turn violent.

Judging by the size the protest has taken in such a short time, Supreme Court finally agreed to listen to all the cases regarding this incident yesterday. The hearing will start after Lok Sabha, by first joining all the cases into one, and then issuing court notice to all the accused.

It conveniently didn't talk about the cases against the judges themselves.

As a response to the protests, fatwas and death threats against the muslim members of BP, who are mainly women and participated in protests, have been issued. And if that wasn't enough Waqf Board has claimed the BP office in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

"What are your thoughts about this?"

Dr Anand Ranganathan, the spokesperson of BP, was questioned about this issue as he was holding the press conference.

"First of all, we have registered FIRs against everyone we could find who gave threats, and are doing our best to protect them. The state police has provided them protection in Maharashtra, thankfully. But Karnataka and Delhi police haven't provided them protection, so we had to move them to Maharashtra.

We would like to thank Supreme Court for accepting the cases, however late it may have acted. We have achieved our objective of forcing our judiciary to finally listen to the voices of the victims. So, we consider #WeWantJustice protests to be successful, and officially end it.

And regarding the Waqf Board, I ask them, where is the proof? When did you own the land?

BP Headquarters in Andheri, Mumbai, is the private property of Shreya Gandhi. She bought the land on which the buildings stand from the individuals Praful Patel, Kailash Modi, Roshan Irani, Abdul Ibrahim, and 23 more individuals. Only 2 of them were Muslims, Abdul Ibrahim and Muhammed Khan.

Likewise, it is the same case for offices in Delhi and Bengaluru. No false documents. Everything is documented. Everything is on our website.

We have clear proof that the property belongs to our party president Shreya Gandhi. What proof does Waqf Board has that it is their property?

Waqf Board is an unconstitutional land grabbing body, which violates the Fundamental Right to Equality, and the Right to Property. We are in the middle of filing a case against Waqf Board in the Supreme Court. And until it is declared unconstitutional, we won't move.

BP's ideology is Equality, Secularism, Education, Healthcare, Infrastructure, and overall Development. Waqf Act goes against the spirit of secularism. Our main argument is that, if Waqf Act is constitutional, why shouldn't there be a Hindu Property Act too?

It is India, a secular, equal, democratic country. Not Pakistan.

We ask those who support Waqf Board this. Both communities should be treated equally.

So, it will be either an equivalent of Hindu Property Board, which will automatically get back the demolished temples like Ram Mandir, Kashi Vishvanath Mandir, and tens of thousands of temples upon which mosques were built.

Or. Waqf Board will be dissolved. Everyone should be equal. India, as it is stated in the preamble, a Secular and Democratic nation, where everyone has equal rights.

Both things can't happen at the same time.

This is India. Not a pseudo-theocratic military dictatorship like Pakistan. Our stance is to dissolve the Waqf Board, and declaring it unconstitutional.

Moreover, we request Karnataka and Delhi police to provide protection to our offices. And take action against those who have issued death threats. Nobody should be above the law and philosophy of equality and freedom of expression. And our freedom of expression in the constitution doesn't give freedom to issue death threats."

The political landscape in India is changing rapidly. And Shreya has now woken up.