On 9th April, Delhi Karkardooma Court heard the prosecution’s arguments in anti-Hindu Delhi Riots 2020 accused Umar Khalid’s bail plea. During the arguments, the prosecution specified how Khalid has a habit of setting a narrative in media and on social media. Giving examples of the conversations he had with celebrities, journalists and activists including Pooja Bhatt, Zeeshan Ayyub, Swara Bhaskar, Yogendra Yadav, Alt News and others, the prosecution explained how links and ideas sent by Khalid were shared and promoted by them on social media and in media. One of the names and conversations that caught the eye was of Rasika Agashe, wife of Zeeshan Ayyub. Interestingly, Rasika wholeheartedly gave her support to Khalid as a ‘Hindu woman’.
As per the prosecution, Khalid had a conversation with Rasika where he said, “The sword is hanging on my neck”, and he was only a phone call away from an arrest. Replying to him, Rasika said that he had “ek hindu aurat ki duaen (Prayers of a Hindu woman)” and prayed to Allah that everything would be alright. She assured me she was only a phone call away, and Khalid said he knew he could count on her and Zeeshan. He also urged her to amplify the matter the next day from noon with the hashtag “StandWithJamia”.
Upon investigation, we found a post done by Rasika on 23rd May 2020 that used the hashtag #StandWithJamia just as Khalid had instructed her to do.
Who is Rasika Agashe?
Rasika is a Marathi theatre personality and a National School of Drama alumni. She is the wife of actor Zeeshan Ayyub who is also an NSD alumni. Rasika was Zeeshan’s senior at NSD. After completing their course at the drama school, they got married and later shifted to Mumbai. Rasika’s role in the 2023 series Scoop directed by Hansal Mehta became a topic of discussion as her role as jail matron was one of the most hated characters in the series.
Apart from acting careers, both husband and wife have played their roles as “activists” for years propagating the left-liberal agendas, protesting against CAA and NRC, and calling for the release of the likes of Umar Khalid, Dr Kafeel and more. As her chats with Khalid were discussed in the Sessions court during the latter’s bail plea, we dig out Rasika’s profile on social media to understand her role in propagating specific agendas.
In December 2019, Rasika Agashe published a post on Twitter (now X) questioning BJP supporters why people were criticised for protesting against CAA. She also questioned if people were blinded by what happened in UP. The post was published on 29th December. By then, violence at Jamia Millia Islamia University had happened and there was a riot-like situation in UP against CAA which was curbed by the state government.
Days before the post, she had targeted Delhi Police for using force to curb violence at Jamia.
There are several posts before the Delhi Riots where Rasika tried to target Hindus. In one of the posts from January, she invoked her “Hindu” identity to guilt-trip Hindus. She targeted those who support ABVP, BJP and RSS and questioned if the people of India want Hindu Rashtra. She conveniently propagated that Dalits are not Hindus and claimed she belonged to a family where children were sent to RSS Shakhas. She further claimed she was taught how the Mughals did wrong in the country. In a way, she propagated what she was taught was wrong.
In another post from January, she named several activists and celebrities along with students, professors etc who were against CAA and questioned if they were against CAA and NRC, why people who support it were not thinking about it. She again involved “Hindu Rashtra” in her post to specifically target Hindus.
In another post, she claimed Hindu and Hindutva are different things. The same old rhetoric was used to support anti-CAA protests.
How much she loved to use her “Hindu identity” for propaganda is clear from her profile. Notably, in December 2019, she was seen writing a placard “I am Hindu and I am Ashamed” in Hindi while being at an anti-CAA protest site.
Earlier, she wrote that it should be Hindus’ responsibility to protest against CAA and not of Muslims.
In February 2020, days before the anti-Hindu Delhi Riots 2020, she again ranted over people being criticised for protesting against CAA and NRC. She wrote, “I condemn all the violence.. from prehistoric times till today.. all kinds of crimes, terrorism, religious, sexual cast based discrimination..exodus, attacks on minorities, death of all innocent souls..all kind of violence.. can I talk about CAA and NRC now?”
In September 2015, she talked about meat ban in specifically BJP-ruled states. She questioned if non-veg would be compulsory on Eid. Notably, in September 2015, there were reports of a meat ban in some states during the Jain festival in some states. The ban in Mumbai was challenged and stayed by the Bombay High Court. The order was upheld by the Supreme Court. Her post, interestingly came days after the Supreme Court’s verdict. It is unclear if she talked about the same ban or something else altogether due to discrepancies in the dates. However, her post clearly showed that she wanted to make it a “Hindu-Muslim” issue.
Rasika’s support for Umar Khalid pre-dates anti-CAA protests
Interestingly, Rasika has been “idolising” Umar Khalid long before the anti-CAA protests. In 2018, following an alleged attack on Umar Khalid, she wrote a poem about feeling blessed that the pistol jammed.
In January 2020, she shared a post by Umar Khalid calling for the release of Dr Kafeel Khan. Kafeel made to headlines after several children died in a hospital in Uttar Pradesh in 2017. He was accused of negligence at that time and suspended from his job. Later, he consistently spoke against the government and during anti-CAA protests became a vocal supporter of the “cause”. The post that was discussed in the court was about Dr Kafeel.
A similar post was shared in February 2020 as well.
The propaganda continued in March. Interestingly, if we look at the dates, they were almost one month apart showing how Umar Khalid was actively setting a narrative on social media, a concern raised by the prosecution in the court on 9th April.
Rasika’s consistent support for Umar Khalid after his arrest
After Umar Khalid was arrested by police in the Delhi Riots case, Rasika extended her support consistently to date. She published posts, shared posts and participated in “cultural events” demanding release of Umar Khalid. In September 2020, she expressed her “fear” and “stood by Umar Khalid”.
In January 2022, Rasika Agashe wrote a note for Khalid after reading about his jail diary while calling for his release.
In January 2022, she called for the release of Umar Khalid and “all political prisoners”.
In September 2022, she shared info on a solidarity meeting for the release of Umar Khalid and others. The list of speakers included Aishe Ghosh, Former Justice Anjana Prakash and others.
In June 2023, Rasika Agashe again called for release of Umar Khalid.
In September 2023, she participated in a cultural evening in solidarity with Umar Khalid marking his three years since his arrest.
Interestingly, this particular event was on the same date Khalid’s bail plea was scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court.
Rasika Agashe also participated in online events organised by those who run Umar Khalid’s page on Facebook.
Rasika and her husband Zeeshan were active during anti-CAA protests. They not only shared posts at the request of Khalid but also propagated for his release. Zeeshan Ayyub, who has appeared in several films, TV series and web series, made headlines for the wrong reasons many times. When we searched his timeline, one particular post drew attention. Notably, on 24th February 2020, when the anti-Hindu Delhi Riots of 2020 were going on, he said on Twitter (now X), “Why it feels like those who support CAA are talking about bloodshed and killing along with CAA!!??” Ayyub tried to divert the blame for riots to those who were in support of CAA while it was the other way around.
Notably, he also used social media to give out messages to gather at protest sites. In January 2020, he published a short video on Facebook asking people from Jamia and Okhla to gather at Shaheen Bagh as police reached there in two buses.
In September 2020, he made an Instagram post calling for release of Khalid.
A month later, he posted a video in support of Khalid where he called the Delhi Riots accused “peace-loving and non-violent”.
In short, Zeeshan used every possible platform, let it be media or social media to propagate against CAA and support the likes of Umar Khalid.
Apart from his activist activities, Zeeshan has been surrounded by controversies on several occasions. One of the most talked about controversies was the derogatory portrayal of Bhagwan Shiv in the web series Tandav which was later removed following the protests by the public and police complaints.
