It was yet another bloody Sunday: exactly four weeks after the first bloodbath in the heart of India’s capital city New Delhi. The capital was singed and people--students and their supporters—took to the streets following violence and clashes between students and Police in Jamia Millia Islamia University.
The police, it is being alleged, stormed the university library and mercilessly beat up the students. The flashpoint was the protest staged by the students against the Citizenship Amendment Act or the CAA passed by the government and the proposed National Register of Citizens or NRC as it is better known. While the first benefits Hindu, Sikh, Parsi and Christian refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the proposed Citizens register will be an official record of all legal citizens of India necessitating proof through a set of documents. The protest stems from the assumption that the CAA is discriminatory given that it leaves out Muslims, the NRC is seen as the next step to complete their isolation.
It was on December 15 that the Police entered the Jamia Millia Islamia University campus and fired tear gas shells according to one version. Another was that they fired bullets injuring several students. The protestors torched vehicles and ransacked the adjoining residential areas.
In less than a month there was mayhem in yet another University, also a hotbed of politics, namely the Jawaharlal Nehru University better known as the JNU.
It was on January 5 that a mob, allegedly outsiders, brandishing lathis, entered the campus. The situation escalated around 7 pm when a peace march led by the JNU Teachers' Association over the university's fee hike was disrupted by a mob pelting stones. Eyewitness accounts said that the assailants wore masks and were armed with lathis and iron rods. Several students, including JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, were badly injured in violence
There are conflicting versions about who started it all and allegations are flying high with the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhayarthi Parishad (ABVP) accusing Left students of vandalising the Periyar hostel of Jawaharlal Nehru University and vice versa.
While the identity of the mob remains a mystery, at least as of now, there are accounts by some students wherein they say that some of the assailants were JNU students belonging to the ABVP: an allegation countered by the ABVP. On the contrary they claim that they were assaulted by Left students who had also damaged university property. Ghosh said that ABVP students had been perpetrating unchecked violence in the university campus for the past four to five days.
The Police have yet to conclude their investigations in the mayhem which does not rule out the involvement of outsiders.
Meanwhile tensions continued to soar outside the campus gates too. Several politicians were caught in the crossfire, including social activist and Swaraj India Chief Yogendra Yadav who was heckled and assaulted by sloganeering mobs thrice on Sunday. Angry and enraged students demanded arrests as they staged protests against the violence.
To express solidarity, protests were staged by students and activists in Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Odisha, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. In Kolkata the situation became tense as protestors from groups supporting ABVP and JNUSU clashed resulting in a lathi charge by the Police. Students of the Jadavpur University, activists of the SFI and members of other Left outfits took out a rally against the violence at JNU campus.
The students of the Aligarh Muslim University demanded the resignation of Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar as hundreds took part in a rally.
In Mumbai, protests were staged at the Gateway of India by activists and Bollywood actors even as Deepika Padukone made a sudden appearance at the JNU and stood beside JNUSU former President Kanhiaya Kumar to express solidarity with the protesting students.
In fact with a single stroke she stole the limelight and shifted focus from the agitation and protests to herself and why she was there. The controversy over her presence surpassed the sequence of events at the JNU and instead of spewing venom at her the BJP should actually be grateful that the spotlight shifted from the agitation to Padukone.
Padukone’s JNU visit has several dimensions. She was in New Delhi to promote her film Chhapaak wherein she has played an acid attack survivor .
In a surprise move, Padukone drove down to Jawaharlal Nehru University to Tuesday. It was the first appearance by any film star on the campus.
She had earlier said that the recent developments at universities had pained her. “What I am seeing, it pains me because I hope this doesn’t become the new normal that anyone can say anything and get away with it. It is scary and pains as well,” she had said. However at the JNU she maintained a studied silence. She did not address the gathering of scores of students but she did share the stage with JNU students’ union leaders including Kanhaiya Kumar as protesters raised slogans of “Jai Bhim-Jai Bhim”. She also spoke with JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who was also beaten up in Sunday evening’s violence.
Motives were attributed to Padukone’s visit as it was seen as a move to gain publicity for her upcoming movie. A section of Twitterati in India said she must be taught a “lesson” while others called for a boycott of the movie. Many netizens went ahead and blocked and unfollowed her on Twitter. Padukone has 29 million followers on the micro-blogging website. She was in the eye of a storm for expressing solidarity with the "anti-nationals" at the JNU.
Since then, #BoycottChhapaak and #BlockDeepika have been the top trending hashtags in the country. Interestingly these were fiercely competing with "#I support Deepika" and "#Chhapaak Dekho Tapaak Se".
Padukone apart, what do these trends point toward? That India is walking a tight rope and the time has come for the Government to take the first step to assuage feelings. But as things stand, the Government is unlikely to retract.
However, the students and the nation-wide protests plus the violence have signalled that the Government can neither ride rough shod nor rule with a heavy hand because the people of India, however passive and tolerant they may appear to be, cannot be taken for granted and will stand up when injustice peaks. This is one such moment in the life of this nation which will never ever barter democracy with dictatorship.
The writer is a senior Indian journalist, political commentator and columnist of The Independent. She can be reached at: ([email protected])