SHAHEEN BAGH MKT, CLOSED SINCE STIR, OPENS AFTER 5 MTHS

NEW DELHI: Perfectly drawn circles adorn the lane outside shops in Shaheen Bagh market, but there are no customers. Inside the shops, workers carefully check the garments for damage — trousers nibbled by rats, shirts with dust-filled creases. The shirts have to be sent back, washed, and ironed before they can be put on display again.

The nationwide lockdown began on March 25. For the traders of Shaheen Bagh, it began many months earlier, on the evening of December 16, 2019.

“We heard reports of stonepelting in Jamia Nagar that afternoon. We were watching the news when we saw policemen chasing a mob outside our shops. The police asked us to down the shutters on our shops. We left in a hurry. The whole market closed within minutes, around 4pm. We did not know then that we would only be back more than five months later,” said Sairaq Aziz, a 32-year-old shopkeeper.

On December 16, a group of residents, led by elderly women, blocked Road 13A outside the market to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, which had been passed in Parliament a few days ago. They stayed on the road for 100 days.

As shops stayed shut over all of winter, traders continued to suffer losses, even as the number of protesters on the road grew; the site became a symbol across the country of voices against the Act.

Over three months later, on March 24 morning, Delhi Police evicted the protesters. The Delhi government had issued prohibitory orders to stem the spread of Covid-19, which had made its way to the National Capital by then.

While the road was finally clear, the shops had to stay shut. The government had ordered the closure of all markets as a precautionary measure.