The more you try to muzzle us, the stronger will be our voice. That was the message from a rally at Jadavpur University to protest the assault on students at Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday.
Thousands of students, teachers and others joined hands to condemn the mayhem unleashed by masked goons on the Delhi campus and joined Monday’s rally, organised by the students’ unions of the arts, science and engineering faculties of JU.
A giant banner at the front of the rally read: “Tomar bukey Nathuram, aamar bukey Khudiram (Nathuram is in your heart, Khudiram is in mine)”.
One end of the banner was held by Rafiqul Hasan, a third-year student of production engineering at JU. “A government that cannot protect its own students is saying it will protect minorities from neighbouring countries. I am not affiliated to any political party but the assault at JNU has strengthened my resolve to fight the government,” said Hasan, a resident of Uluberia in Howrah.
The other end was held by Pradipta Mondal, a fourth-year student of civil engineering at JU. “I am seething with anger. Students fighting (among themselves) on campus is one thing, unleashing armed goons on them is another,” he said.
The protesters walked from the JU campus to Jadavpur police station, where they made a U-turn and walked till Baghajatin before doing another U-turn and proceeding to the 8B bus stand in Jadavpur, where the rally ended.
Around 3.40pm, when protesters at the front of the rally were making the U-turn in front of Jadavpur police station, the tail was still at gate No. 4 of the campus, around a kilometre away.
“Awaaz do, sab ek ho (Shout out aloud, we are united),” was the slogan that rose from one section of the rally. From another section rose: “Lathi goli ki sarkar, nahi chalegi abki bar (The government of sticks and bullets will not work this time)”.
Kriti Roy, who is pursuing her MPhil in economics at JNU and is in Calcutta to meet her ailing grandfather, was lending her voice to the slogans. On Sunday afternoon, Kriti got a message from Aishe Ghosh, the JNU students’ union president, seeking update on her grandfather’s health. Hours later, Kriti switched on the TV and saw the bloodied face of Aishe. Her initial reaction was of disbelief.
“The protest at JNU on Sunday was against fee hike, not against CAA and NRC. That students can be attacked with iron rods and bricks for protesting fee hike tells a lot about the state of affairs. The attack is on the idea of public education. Aishe was beaten up because she was the face of resistance. The more the government tries to muzzle our voice, the stronger it will be,” said Kriti, a member of the Students’ Federation of India, the CPM’s student wing.
Titas Bhattacharya, a first-year undergraduate student of sociology at JU, carried a poster with a blunt message: “Chaibey jotoi Amit Shah, kagoj aami debo na (Amit Shah can ask as much as he wants, I am not going to show my papers)”.
“The government is resorting to violence. We will respond with humour,” she said.
Around 3.30pm, an ambulance got stuck near the Jadavpur Traffic Guard office on Raja Subodh Chandra Mallick Road. Within minutes, some of the students ran forward, making way for the ambulance. “We are not like them,” shouted a student, who helped the ambulance pass. The statement was greeted with applause.
An ambulance, carrying two doctors and two volunteers, had driven into the JNU campus around 9pm on Sunday. Dozens of people, armed with rods and sticks and some masked, surrounded the ambulance and prevented it from moving, a doctor associated with the effort said.
