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This is a piece of political satire. Readers are requested to bear the same in mind and proceed with caution.

Bearing in mind the democratic character of elections in our country, the government has launched special “hide-and-seek” training programmes to launch troops who will catch any suspicious spies at the ballot box, trying to endanger free and fair elections in 2024.

Greetings Everyone! Would you like to hear a story? I can’t assure you if it’s fact or fiction, or perhaps it might be switching between those lines. Nonetheless, let’s just recite the tale.

In December 2023, the National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI) released a tender for procuring surveillance equipment, including drones and facial recognition technologies (FRT), for monitoring the union and state elections of 2024 as a part of the special “hide-and-seek” training programs. These programmes intend to train and launch specialised troops who will catch any suspicious spies (dangerous voters), trying to threaten the democratic character of the 2024 elections.

Just like in every epic saga, there is a hero, the hero’s best friend, and obviously a villain. And of course, in this tale, our precious government happens to be the hero. Poor them! All they were trying to do was protect our beloved democracy. I mean, they just tried to eliminate those damn spies. How will we safeguard our title as “the world’s largest democracy” otherwise? And the NICSI, as the typical hero’s best friend, just tried to support their best friend in this noble endeavour.

The said tender laid out plans for live-webcasting the polls and counting processes during elections and drafted the setting up of a “centralised command and control centre” to monitor activities in real time in order to “prevent unfair practices and maintain law and order at polling stations.” NICSI intended to achieve this by installing field surveillance vehicles, drones, systems extracting data from FRT for voters, IP-based cameras, LED TVs for screening the live data, and web-based audio and video streaming software on polling stations and counting halls.

Such noble intentions indeed! But of course, tragedy had to strike, and the menacing villain had to foil this plan!

The Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered the cancellation of the said tender and sent a notice to NCISI after the digital rights body, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), sent a letter to the ECI expressing concerns over breaches of citizens’ privacy and the potential misuse of voter data on January 17, 2024, and tweeted about it. The ECI spokesperson tweeted,

When the NICSI tender came to our attention, the Commission directed NICSI to immediately cancel it. The said tender was not floated with ECI approval. The Commission shall not allow invasion of citizens’ privacy in any manner during elections.

The wretched ECI, of course, could not sit still while the valorous hero pursued their noble initiative. Apologies for letting my emotions get the best of me; I mean, it’s just a story. But why does the ECI keep trying to frame the government with absurd allegations like “the proposed use of monitoring and surveillance technologies is antithetical to a free and fair election” or “the extensive deployment of video surveillance equipment will hurt individual fundamental rights, particularly the right to privacy and dignity” and how “citizens have a legitimate expectation that their voting choices remain confidential and free from unwarranted scrutiny” and “voter surveillance is voter intimidation and hampers the conduct of free and fair elections” and blah, blah, blah!

But, unfortunately, in this story, the villain won.

The National Informatics Centre Services Inc., on January 19, 2024, cancelled its tender seeking proposals from companies to provide surveillance equipment. According to IFF (the villain’s best friend), ECI’s decision to withdraw the tender is a positive step. They believe that there also needs to be an investigation to determine how and why a tender with such far-reaching implications for citizens’ ability to vote freely and without fear was released in the first place.

The villain may have won this time or might just keep winning every single time (hopes of every idealistic citizen in a democracy), but obviously the hero will keep trying and will come back stronger! (unfortunate reality).

Read also: Saffronisation Out in the Open, Finally!

Featured Image Credits: India Today

Gauri Garg
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The following piece attempts to examine the roots of Hindutva ideology in India as well as the caste-class mobilisation on which it grows. In doing so, it will also look at the role of apolitical-centrist folks in fuelling fascism.

Fascism, as Time magazine describes it, is “a movement that promotes the idea of a forcibly monolithic, regimented nation under the control of an autocratic ruler.” Its origins can be traced to Europe in the early twentieth century, with Germany seeing one of the worst faces of that movement. However, after World War II, in 1945, fascism began to lose ground before resurfacing in the form of neo-fascism. However, fascism, unlike in the West, rose to prominence in India in the 1990s. Since then, fascism in India has grown to its worst, steadily choking the world’s greatest democracy to death.

In his paper titled ‘Neoliberalism and Fascism’, Prabhat Patnaik writes, “They (fascists leaders) invariably invoke acute hatred against some hapless minority groups, treating them as the ‘enemy within’ in a narrative of aggressive hyper nationalism, and attribute all the existing social ills of the ‘nation’ to the presence of such groups.” He goes on to explain in his research how these movements’ fundamental characteristics go beyond mere prejudice. It highlights the movement’s adherence to irrational viewpoints, desire for societal domination, and readiness to use violence openly—even in positions of governmental authority—in order to accomplish its goals. He describes the totalitarian tendencies of fascist governments as they attempt to dominate the social, political, and economic facets of society. This eventually leads to a highly controlled society in which the government has a significant influence over every element of an individual’s personal life.

Hindutva, also known as Hindu nationalism, is a fascist movement in India that advocates Hindu supremacy and the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra. This movement began in India in 1925, amid the fascist surge in the West, but received little attention from the public until the 1990s due to the dominance of a left-centrist political party in government. However, after the 1990s, the movement began to expand quickly, with the ‘Babri Masjid’ as the centre of the politicisation. The movement gained political traction with the formation of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, which was backed by the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Dr Muhammad Gumnāmi for The Muslim 500 notes, “From the 1990s onwards, the slow poisoning of Hindu minds against Indian Muslims was carried out by the RSS and BJP. However, their progress to a majority with complete control did not occur immediately. The BJP passed through a stage where they had to form a coalition government under the ‘moderate’ Vajpayee, who was also an RSS member. The Vajpayee coalition government ran between 1998 and 2004, and while it was BJP-led, it did not have the majority to lay the foundations of a Hindu Hitlerian state.”

In a country where caste is severely established, Hindu unity was a challenging feat. At the same time, in the 1990s, the then-V.P. Singh’s government implemented the Mandal Commission, which granted 27% reservation to the OBCs. This policy was a political manoeuvre intended to harm the BJP’s electoral base by creating inter-caste divides. While most political parties stayed mute on the commission since any favour may result in them losing a specific caste vote, the RSS officially called on the BJP to reject the Mandal Commission. But the party used a different strategy to mobilise people and secure voter support. A month later, L.K. Advani, the then-BJP President, began the ‘Rath Yatra’ to promote the agenda of a temple under the Babri Masjid and deflect attention away from the Mandal Commission. From the start, the Yatra provoked sectarian tensions between Hindus and Muslims.

On 6 December, 1992, members of Hindutva organisations razed the centuries-old mosque, sparking one of the bloodiest communal clashes in the country. While the Hindu-Muslim gap was gradually deepening following the demolition, a train accident made it worse. In 2002, a train coming from Ayodhya caught fire, killing 58 Hindu pilgrims. This prompted violent riots in Gujarat, killing over 1,000 individuals, the majority of whom were Muslims. Many international organisations criticised the BJP administration, stating evidence that the violence had been planned and designed in advance. The inability of the state to control violence, acts of silencing journalists and critics, and banning documentaries make further cause for concern and question. From then until now, the BJP has been successful in uniting Hindus on the basis of hatred against Muslims.

A PhD candidate from the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra writes, “In India, fascism is reinventing itself. It has crept through Hindu nationalism—Hindutva—and now poses a serious threat to Indian democracy.” For the BJP, mobilising UC Hindus was an easy task. A fairly easy equation: Hindu Raj means Hindu domination, which means upper caste dominance. Along with that equation came the Mandal Commission, which eventually helped them acquire UC voter support due to open criticism from the RSS, the parent wing. In a poll analysis by Lokniti-CSDS, they reported that as many as 89% of Brahmins, 87% of Rajputs, and 83% of Baniyas voted for the BJP in the 2022 elections. The percentage was 66 for OBCs and 41 for SCs.

While the existence of the UC voter base is self-explanatory, the question arises: how did the BJP succeed in mobilising the lower caste? Their first card featured Narendra Modi. Modi has been quite aggressive about his caste identity since the beginning. The Press Trust of India reported, “Addressing a press conference at the JD(U) headquarters here, the party’s MLC and chief spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar, pointed out that Modi has been accused of getting his caste, ‘Modh Ghanchi’, included in the OBC list in 2002, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. ‘Modi sought to deny the allegation by claiming it was done way back in 1994, when the Congress ruled Gujarat as well as the Centre’, added the JD(U) leader. Kumar showed a sheet of paper claiming it was the Gazette of India of that year, mentioning the casts that were included among Other Backward Classes (OBC).” A few other political groups also questioned his caste status, but the BJP successfully defended it by labelling the claims “casteist”.

Now the question remains: even after an increase in crime rates against Dalits since 2013, why are Dalits voting for the BJP? The answer lies in the class development of this caste. In the book ‘Maya Modi Azad: Dalit Politics in the Time of Hindutva,’ scholars Sudha Pai and Sajjan Kumar find out the reason behind this shift. The book explains how class upliftment is one of the reasons behind the shift in political support. Vikas Patnaik notes in his review of the book for The Hindu, “Indeed, this is one of the finest insights of the book. One sign of self-confidence is always fragmentation, as an individual or a sub-group agency begins to question the need for a larger ‘authentic’ self. Just as a Brahmin can be a supporter of the BJP, the Congress, or even a socialist, it goes without saying that a confident Dalit middle class will also articulate itself in fragments. In other words, the electoral debacle of the BSP also reflects the success of the BSP in providing ‘aatma-samman’ (self-respect) to Dalits who grew up seeing Kanshi Ram and Mayawati as their natural leaders.”

Another reason is the hierarchy within castes. An excerpt from Pai and Kumar’s book argues, “It is also because the objective has been two-fold: to obtain the electoral support required in a key state like UP and include them within the saffron fold in order to build a Hindu Rashtra. Feeling neglected within the BSP vis-à-vis the dominant Jatavs, the smaller Dalit sub-castes have been attracted to the BJP and thus rendered vulnerable to its mobilizational strategies.”

The BJP’s silence on the Mandal Commission, the addition of EWS reservation, RSS’ criticism of the Mandal Commission, weakening opposition, intra-caste dominance, and Modi’s identity were all enough to mobilise the communities and bring them under the banner of “Hindu,” with a common slogan, “Not a ‘Brahmin’, Not a ‘Kshatriya’, Not a ‘Vaishya’, Not a ‘Shudra’: We are Hindus.”

While the underprivileged lack access to proper education and information about issues, they vote with the hope that this can probably uplift their financial status, while the rich ensure that they stay ignorant and vote with hatred. As economist Prabhat Patnaik states, “Fascism has been thriving on weakening the working class across the world,” and indeed the present construction workers deal between India and Israel exemplifies that. In India, the BJP government’s control over media and internet platforms aids in mobilising the middle and upper classes. According to a recent World Economic Forum survey, India is the most vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation in the world, posing the greatest threat to the 2024 elections. The reason a lie becomes a fact in India is because the privileged either benefit from it or turn a blind eye to it.

Fascism thrives on the politicisation of religion, and misinformation to blur the distinction between political and religious events aids in the cultivation of an apolitical voter base that ignores socio-political issues. Such a voter base indirectly aids in mobilising the working class. A recent illustration of this is the violence that erupted in the country following the Ram Temple’s inauguration. While this voting base had the resources and access to education, they chose to remain in their bubble of privilege, thereby supporting the authoritarian regime and creating a religious gap in their personal relationships.

Furthermore, an analysis of how apolitical-centrist individuals unknowingly support fascism emphasises the importance of a nuanced understanding of political apathy and the potential consequences of being untouched by ideological shifts. The development of fascism highlights the importance of ideological neutrality in deciding a country’s political direction.

So, while we sit in our bubble of privilege, continue to preach hatred, directly or indirectly, and refuse to question the hatred, the regime will continue to divide everyone, incite riots, and fan the flame of hatred towards our doors.

Read also: “I am a Brahmin” The Casteism of Baba Ramdev and Shankaracharya

Featured Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Dhruv Bhati
[email protected]

Recently, controversy erupted when the ‘Ambedkarite Queer’ attendees at the 2024 Mumbai Pride Parade were allegedly barred from chanting “Jai Bhim,” a popular slogan for Dalit liberation and the annihilation of caste. In the light of this missing intersectionality, along with the all-too-familiar hijacking of Pride by corporations professing ‘rainbow capitalism,’ the question arises: where is the soul of Pride today?

While Pride stands as a symbol of celebration of diversity and a fight for equal rights, it has been exploited over the years not only within the realm of capitalism but by political parties in the country, who have been handed over the task to initiate laws for marriage equality by the honourable Supreme Court. India hosts several Pride marches across cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, and many more. However, the history of the Pride march illustrates several obstacles, like police and legal restrictions, all over the country.

Recently, the Pride March conducted in Mumbai on February 3rd, 2024, witnessed bouts of ‘political tokenism’. Altercations were reported between groups that were accused of raising ‘political slogans.’ In reality, it so panned out that individuals who identified themselves as ‘Ambedkarite Queers’ were barred from chanting ‘Jai Bhim’ and their posters of B.R. Ambedkar were snatched by the Pride Volunteers. While Pride is a celebration of the diverse gender spectrum, it is also a battle for equal rights for all. While gender and sexuality sadly pose a barrier in today’s world, individuals also have to surpass other social barriers like caste and religion, depicting the intersectionality of oppression. While Pride aims to propose a ‘safe political space’ for claiming moral individual rights, incidents of such sorts explain the ‘hollowness’ behind its façade of progressivism within the country.

Furthermore, the reading of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution conducted during Mumbai Queer Pride allegedly missed out on the word ‘secular.’ Interesting, sigh. Apologies if this smells of ‘saffronization’ of long-protected social justice spaces as well. Allegedly revoking the word ‘secular’ sadly reeks of an established right-wing government injecting its agendas into what was supposedly a liberal safe space. Nevertheless, members of Mumbai Queer Pride soon after published a public apology on Instagram, citing their “respect to stand with every cause that intersects with Queer lives.”

Much earlier, the 2020 Pride, then scheduled to be held in Mumbai, was cancelled owing to protests related to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, squashing the annual celebration of the city’s widespread queer community. Similarly, even Delhi’s Pride Parade, which has been held since 2008, has witnessed over hundreds of police personnel and restrictions in place every year (yes, queer people are ‘too dangerous’ after all).

Indeed, several questions come to mind. Can Pride ever be apolitical? Can the fight for queer rights be fought without taking into account intersectionality? And most importantly, is the liberation of any queer people possible without the liberation of all queer people, intersecting religious, caste, and other social hierarchies?

While the answers seem obscure, Pride Marches was initially conceived with the idea of creating a protected sphere for queer individuals where their individuality is celebrated and their need for fundamental rights amplified while the rest of the world shuns them. Pride today has been tainted with flimsy populist politics, evident from such policing and legalities.

With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections nearing, we flashback to the 2019 elections and the manifesto promises of providing equal footing to the LGBTQ+ community within society with equal opportunities in health, education, and work by all the political parties. While the abrogation of Section 377 served as a major win for LGBTQ+ rights, the ruling party, after coming into power, has since taken scarce measures to ensure a safe space for the community. There has been hardly any legislation for trans inclusivity in employment, health, education, and likewise.

This brings us to another pertinent question: are political parties using the ‘fight for equal rights’ as an ‘agenda’ to gain votes from the youth? Has the soul of Pride been sucked into the circle of ‘vote-bank politics’? A student from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, shared their opinion on this matter,

A lot of institutions before electoral processes conduct ‘rainbow representation’ for tokenistic purposes, and even after they get elected, they hardly create any change for the betterment of the community. Pride also witnesses ‘rainbow capitalism’ where organisations are’selling’ queer people while they are intrinsically homophobic or transphobic in their manufacturing purposes or ideologies. It’s tragic and cannot be solved unless the majority from every electoral poll holds MPs and MLAs accountable for providing equal gender rights.

National-level politics, besides capitalism, have exploited the LGBTQ+ community with manifestos that are just fantasy and rainbow-themed products in corporate organisations, while rejecting jobs for any individual who identifies as a part of the community under the garb of a progressive corporate work environment. Several examples can be cited from student politics as well. Pride marches conducted by student political parties, while turning out to be a huge success, get overruled by the spotlight due to how ‘woke’ the political party is. An instance of this can be pointed out in the Pride March conducted by the Student Federation of India (SFI) at the North Campus of Delhi University in 2023. Several gender-rights collectives that were part of the parade claimed that the march was boiled down to an ‘SFI-led event’ with SFI flags overruling the Pride flags. After all, it’s never a fight for equality, but ‘look how progressive our party is’ implying that ‘do not forget to vote for us; elections are just around the corner!’ 

“Pride will always be political,” they say, but moral boundaries between what is an election stunt and a genuinely progressive cause are the need of the hour; otherwise, it plainly delegitimizes the fight of generations. For years, caste oppression, poverty, economic inequality, and a lack of education have been favourite playthings of parties running for elections. But LGBTQ+ rights are now grabbing the spot of the top favourite toy of political parties, which are hell-bent on turning it into another token movement. While social justice movements embedded within the realm of politics are getting fooled by the world of politics itself, is there no way out of this paradox? Is justice, indeed, blind?

The abrogation of Section 377 was never about the liberty of the LGBTQ+ community. It was always tagged as one of the greater ‘achievements’ of the ruling party and the Prime Minister. While ‘taking credit’ remains a societal norm, social justice can hardly prevail in such a society.

As long as same-sex marriage still remains a far-fetched dream in a country of the twenty-first century, it is important to think how many Pride Marches, police restrictions, legal obstacles, political tokenism it will take for justice to prevail and to live equally in this unequal world.

Read Also: Pride, Privilege, Politics: A Third-Year Perspective on Being Queer in DU

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat

Priyanka Mukherjee
[email protected]

In the dynamic and competitive landscape of the professional world, internships stand as the gateway to a transformative and enlightening experience for aspiring professionals. The journey from academia to the workforce is often paved with uncertainties, and internships emerge as a crucial stepping stone that not only bridges the gap between theory and practice but also opens doors to unparalleled learning and growth.

We are about to embark on the mid-year crisis part of college life now. First-year students who have just gotten the jist of college life will now start wondering about hopping onto newer opportunities other than college societies; second-year students will go down a spiral of dread wondering how time flies and that they are so close to graduating; and third-year students will do anything in the world just to add more things to their CV. The answer to all these people’s quests will be internships. Here’s the perfect guide to deciding what might work best for you:

If we lived in a utopian world where we had endless amounts of time and people did things only for the experience and new adventures, I’d ask you to do internships for the sake of it. But let’s be real: nobody has the time to add extra things to their already busy schedule just for fun unless it benefits them in the long run. To put it simply, think about your life goals. If you are someone who will start looking for a job after graduation, an internship will surely help you. College internships don’t give you a lot of exposure, but they do make you familiar with a “work environment” and get you connections with some of the renowned names in the industry. If you wish to pursue a postgraduate degree, then, depending on what discipline you master, you can decide if you should spend time at the graduate level on internships or allocate that time to preparing for competitive exams. Most people who go for CAT consider it necessary for applicants to have internship experience. Many colleges, especially foreign ones, include a stipulated work experience requirement for applicants. It is often hard to pinpoint right now the job that you are sure to love in the future, but I have found it helpful to at least eliminate options that you are not at all inclined towards. It helps to narrow your horizons and helps to get a clear understanding of your interests.

When you are working as a full-time employee, the company needs you as much as you need it. But the paradigm shifts in the case of interns. Interns find themselves needing the company a lot more than it needs them. Interns can be easily replaced by anyone from the hundreds of others seeking that position, willing to work for free. Thus, the demand for a stipend, however meagre, is always silenced in exchange for the value the intern adds to the company. Most internships are unpaid, and while the prospect of them doesn’t seem very attractive, some of them might be worth it. Internships at startups usually offer excellent work environments, but the work may be a little overbearing at times. Since the people at startups are closer to your age, they tend to understand your situation better and offer a curated, personalised work environment for you. An internship at an NGO is one for a great cause, but it has the worst clauses. NGOs require your physical availability, and most of the work there is based on networking and social media content creation. The work undertaken by NGOs is fueled by an unwavering dedication to altruism, a selfless devotion that transcends personal ambition. The most popular unpaid internships are government internships, and the chance of anyone getting in is minute because they are open to students across all colleges for all years. However, they are known to shine the brightest on anyone’s CV. The idea here with both government internships as well as internships at big companies is that they’ll filter you out from a series of rigorous rounds and interviews, and at the end of the day, internships do not matter as much as where you intern does.

After you have figured out which type of internship suits you best based on time constraints, interest, and pay, it’s time to start looking for one! The first place for you to go is your own college’s placement cell page. Here, you are bound to find one that might work for you, plus if this is your first internship, it will be easier for you to navigate through the recruitment process with the help of the people from your college. If you have a particular company or organisation in mind, you’ll have to be on the lookout for their posts on LinkedIn as well as their other social media handles. There are some apps and websites like Internshala and LetsLearn that have a great set of opportunities for students and also assist with CV and resume building. All year long, volunteering opportunities are offered by organisations such as PETA, UNESCO, and others that provide internships in event management and outreach programs. Many YouTubers would also tell you a hack to email your resume and cover letter to any organisation and gaslight them into thinking that they did put out an internship opportunity and you’ve sent in your response. I’m not sure if that has ever worked for anyone, but what’s the harm in trying?

Internships play a pivotal role in shaping the professional journey of college students. Beyond providing a first-hand glimpse into the workings of industries and companies, internships offer invaluable opportunities for skill development, networking, and personal growth. They bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world application. What sets apart a “good” internship opportunity from another is how well-suited it is for the individual. The idea of an internship is to give you a chance to experiment with the real world, and if you don’t allow yourself to fail, no internship can ever be worth your time. So, breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, and breathe out!

You got this!

Read Also: Unpaid Internships: Are they Worth it?

Image Credits: People Matters

Saanvi Manchanda

[email protected]

Despite the Prime Minister’s assurance of unity through Ram, violence plagues several corners of the country while citizens remain delusioned by visuals of the Ayodhya temple and hopes and dreams of a Hindu Rashtra.

While diyas lit every corner of Bharat and saffron flags adorned its streets, flares of violence also followed suit to the Ram Mandir inauguration on January 22, 2024. While the mainstream media and internet algorithms keep you blinded by the glitter within the Ayodhya temple, communal sentiments have been on the rise in ‘Viksit Bharat’.

Gujarat, the Home-Ground of Saffron:

16 people were charged with “attempt to murder” in Bhoj village in Vadodara on the day of the inauguration. Allegedly, these persons were involved in pelting stones at the Shobha Yatra procession when it was passing by a masjid. According to the police, as the procession was going through the masjid lane, there was a heated encounter between the Hindu and Muslim communities, leading to the stone-pelting. The FIR lodged states that eight people in the procession were injured, including five women. 10 more people who were allegedly involved are yet to be identified.

This comes a day after a similar incident in Belim Vas in the Mehsana district. A procession was held on the eve of the consecration ceremony. According to the locals, it deviated from its planned route and reached a mosque. Videos have surfaced online showing how the group paraded, playing loud music and flashing swords and orange flags in the sensitive area. Fights broke out when the procession aggravated the Muslims, who were pleading with them to be quieter around the mosque. Stones were pelted, and the situation escalated fast, calling for police intervention. The Mehsana Police used teargas to bring back order and arrested 13 men, all Muslims. According to locals, it was a planned, provocative procession.

‘Ek hi Rashtra, Ek Hi Ram’ in Madhya Pradesh:

In Madhya Pradesh, the bhakts were celebrating the “victory” of their religion more than the inauguration of Ram Mandir. With passions high, young men were seen climbing small churches and planting saffron flags on the roofs, chanting “Jai Siya Ram ” with the utmost energy as bystanders cheered them on. This happened in four villages: Dabtalai, Matasula, Uberao, and Dhamaninathu in the Jhabua District. A pastor from the Matasula village told The Wire that at around 4 p.m. on Sunday (January 21), around 80 to 90 right-wing activists gathered near his house and started shouting provocative slogans.

“They were raising slogans, such as ‘Ek hi Rashtra, ek hi Ram,” he said.

The Christian community felt threatened by such an imposition of Hindu beliefs and didn’t even lodge an FIR out of fear, according to The Quint.

Mira Road and FTII Remind of Babri Masjid Scars in Maharashtra:

The scars of the Bombay riots in 1992 after the demolition of the Babri masjid were agitated on the 21st of January. 32 years after the horrific communal riots, the harmony that was so difficult to form was disturbed once again. Naya Nagar, an area in Mira Road, Mumbai, is primarily inhabited by Muslims who migrated from the main city after the bloody riots three decades ago. On the eve of the Pran Pratishtha, a series of Hindu processions celebrated their way through the streets of this area. It continued till late in the night, rousing tensions and consequently leading to violent exchanges.

At around 10:30 pm, a rally of bikes and cars passed through the area, shouting chants like “Jai Shree Ram” all the way. According to witnesses, the rally continued until a dead end, where a junior college stood. There was also a mosque nearby.

“Local residents thought the crowd was intentionally shouting slogans outside the mosque,” Sayed said to Scroll. Provoked, the residents expressed their anger, and fights soon followed. Stones were hurled, and the cars in the procession were attacked. A car carrying five people, including two women and a minor, was attacked as well, leaving them injured. While the victims deny any kind of provocation, a Hindu resident told Scroll, “They were loudly chanting slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ late at night provocatively.”

A video of a Muslim man condemning the rallies and asking the Hindu groups to leave their community at peace angered netizens and even led to the arrest of the man for inciting violence. Ironically, when BJP leader Nitesh Rane posted a much more threatening post, warning the Naya Nagar residents that they would be beaten, no FIR was registered and no action was taken.

On the 23rd, in retaliation to the attacks on the rallies two days earlier, a radical decision was taken to demolish illegally established shops and properties owned by Muslims in that area. Municipal officials turned up with bulldozers and, without giving time to vacate belongings from the stores, destroyed entire establishments. Structures that had stood for years were selectively chosen based on whether the owners were Muslim or not and ruined in moments. While the municipality acted on instructions, Hindu mobs, blinded by rage, vandalised the stores of Muslims who had nothing to do with the violence that had ensued two days prior.

A video by the news outlet Maktoob Media has emerged on the internet that shows the mobs destroying the shop, not heeding the pleas of the old owner.   

Communal conflicts weren’t limited to localities but extended to educational institutes as well. At the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, a Hindu mob stormed the gates to burn a banner put up by the institute’s student association. The banner read, “Remember Babri, death to constitution, FTII student’s association.” The mob was involved in thrashing a few students as well, including the association’s president, Mankap Nokwoham. According to a press release by the association, their president was “violently attacked and brutally beaten.” An FIR was lodged against the 12–15 people who had broken into the campus, while six FTII students who were detained for displaying the banner were released on bail of Rs 30,00 each a few days ago.

Muslim Graveyard set afire in Bihar:

Reports arrive from Khirma village in the Darbhanga district of Bihar allegedly claiming that a procession celebrating the Ram Mandir ‘Pran Pratistha’ Ceremony threw a cracker inside a Muslim graveyard, causing it to go up in flames.

The Station House Officer at Keoti Police Station, Rani Kumari, reported to The Quint that:

“A Shobha Yatra was passing by a graveyard. Someone who was part of the Shobha Yatra lit a firecracker and threw it inside the graveyard, causing fire inside. The fire was subsequently contained, and an FIR has been registered. 12 people have been named in the FIR, and 50–100 are unknown individuals. No arrests have been made so far.”

Several videos have surfaced on X pertaining to the burning graveyard, and it is being claimed by the villagers that their collective efforts along with the fire brigade helped subside the fire. A video posted by Fatima Khan, a journalist at The Quint, shows citizens reporting to the police of the Shobha Yatra threatening to alight the district Masjid on fire as well. The video of the same can be found at this link.

14 Injured as Communal Clash Erupts in Bengal:

On January 24, merely two days after the Ram Temple Inauguration Ceremony, a gathering of two communities—Muslims and Hindus—clashes against each other in Howrah district of West Bengal as a religious procession turns violent.

The Quint reports that such violence erupted when Muslims took out an Urs procession on Wednesday night on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad, at Belilious road in Central Howrah. Muslims claim that provocative actions were taken up by the Hindus, who started the violence by chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’, while Hindus blame the Muslims for stone-pelting and tearing their religious posters associated with Ram Mandir celebrations.

Vikram Singh, one of the victims of injuries during the clash, reported to The Quint that:

“We were inside our homes as it was chilly due to rains in the evening, but suddenly we were jolted by the noise of an unruly mob who began chanting slogans and tearing our religious posters and banners. We rushed outside and warned them against it. They went back after facing strong opposition from us, but soon returned within minutes and began to pelt stones on us. It was a sudden attack that left scores of us injured.”

Following such an incident on the 24th of January, the police have clamped Section 144 of the CrPC around the area, prohibiting a gathering of more than 4-5 persons. The Belilious road area in Howrah where the incident occurred has a population of around 3 lakhs, with both communities having almost equal numbers.

However, the Muslim community blames the Hindus for the assault. Zafar Ali, who claimed to be an eyewitness, told The Quint that a mob of around 1000–1500 people were participating in the religious procession, which started from a local market around 8.30 PM and was supposed to cover a distance of 800 metres before returning. He reports to The Quint that:

“The police had barricaded our destination from where we were supposed to return. The procession was peaceful till we reached the end point, but we heard slogans of Jai Shri Ram from the other side that were raised to provoke us. Some of our youths jumped the barricade and went to the other side, but they were attacked with swords and other sharp weapons. Soon, stone-pelting also began from the other side, and we were forced to run for our lives.”

It is being alleged that around 14 people were injured in this incident, including Sandip Pakhira, Officer-in-Charge of the Howrah Police Station, under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred. However, no arrests have been made so far. Howrah Commissioner of Police Praveen Kumar Tripathi said that steps have been taken to ensure peace, and the perpetrators are being located using CCTV footage.

Union Minister Smriti Irani, who was on a visit to Kolkata on January 25, 2024, grabbed this opportunity to claim that:

“The police were nowhere to be seen when the Ram devotees were pelted with stones, but they were out in big numbers to stop the live screening of PM Modi’s interaction with young voters in Kolkata. This shows that they have no respect for Ram devotees.”

Ironically, while Lord Ram is portrayed as a symbol of unification within Bharat, communal clashes make Ram devotees only localised to Hindus, linking citizenship within Bharat to faith!

History Repeats Itself in Karnataka:

Karnataka was the worst-affected south-Indian state after L.K. Advani’s Rath Yatra back in the 1990s. According to The News Minute, a South Indian news outlet, Karnataka was the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat to have suffered the brunt of blood and violence post-Rath Yatra. There was major rioting in four cities—Kolar, Davanagere, Ramanagara, and Channapatna—and the police responded with a shoot-to-kill spree. The sectarian clashes and police firings left 88 people dead by the time the Yatra exited the state. Since then, the communal situation in Karnataka has been fragile.

The flames of the 1990 Rath Yatra had only subsided when news of the Babri Masjid demolition reached every corner of the country on December 6, 1992. Karnataka again fell prey to prejudice and death. Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Gulbarga—cities that erupted in violence again; the air was thick with smoke, teargas, and fear. The post-demolition riots claimed 78 lives; 33 of them were due to police shootings.

Whooshing past to 2024, Section 144 has been imposed in several parts of Karnataka following skirmishes involving several stone-pelting incidents post-the Ram Mandir celebrations on January 22.

At Kalaburgi district, a procession of Lord Ram hosted by the Ram Utsav Samiti on account of the ‘Pran Pratistha’ Ceremony witnessed certain youths entering a restaurant owned by Zahoor Khan, chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and threatening to close down the shop, according to the Hindustan Times. Consequently, several Muslim youths arrived at the scene, and turmoil erupted before the police arrived and took the situation under control by enforcing Section 144 across the area.

In Belagavi, three areas, deemed communally hypersensitive, experienced incidents of stone-pelting and police intervention. The Hindustan Times reports that unsettling events unfolded around 10.30 PM on Monday on Fort Road, Darbar Galli, and near the Head Post Office Circle in the Market Police sub-division. Police officials report that stone-pelting occurred from both Hindu and Muslim sides, and reserve forces were deployed to bring the situation under control, with the public being told to disperse. The areas concerned were densely populated by Muslims, and anonymous sources reported to the Hindustan Times that youths ‘celebrating forcibly’ flouted police barricades, chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and burst firecrackers. Police officials mention that such provocations led to stone-pelting from both sides, and a lathi charge was used to disperse the groups.

On the same night, an Ambedkar statue was defaced with a garland of footwear at Kotnoor village, according to The Quint. This incident led to several protests from Dalit organisations, and the police tried to pacify the situation by offering a garland of flowers to the statue.

Nevertheless, Section 144 was hailed to the rescue across Karnataka!

Telangana Shocks the Nation!

Not just Karnataka, Telangana has also entered the list of states in South India that have fallen prey to the communal plague.

On the day of Ram-Mandir consecration, a fruit shop owned by a Muslim man was set ablaze against allegations of a shoe being thrown into the Ram-Mandir procession in the Sangareddy district of Telangana. The News Minute reports that ‘provocative slogans’ were raised while the shop was set on fire. According to the shop owner, all the produce within the shop has been damaged, and the loss amounts to nearly twenty thousand. Police officials report that, upon investigation, it was found that the shoe-throwing incident was not linked to the Muslim whose shop was burned down. An FIR was previously registered, and a police case has been registered against the violence-perpetrating mob under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), and 435 (using fire or explosives with intent to cause damage), read with Section 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of a common object) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In an unrelated incident reported by Maktoob Media, a Muslim teenager was paraded naked by a Hindutva group at Morgi village in the same district. The 19-year-old Muslim boy was assaulted, paraded naked, and sent to jail by the Hindu mob along with four other Muslim men against allegations of insulting the saffron Hindu religious flag in an online video.

The teenager was accused by the Hindutva mob of disrespecting the saffron flag and posting it on social media, and he was arrested along with four other men who helped him make that video.

“Tumhari aukaat humare pairon ki dhool (your status is the dust on our feet). We are Muslim; don’t forget it,” a voice in the background can be heard saying in the video, which the teenager allegedly posted on social media. The police had booked five men, including Abbas, under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups), 253A (offending religious beliefs), and 505 (2) (promoting hatred or ill-will).

Villagers of Morgi and adjacent villages reached Morgi in large numbers, caught the 19-year-old boy, thrashed him, and attacked him by pushing him to the ground in full public view. The teenager was also stripped and paraded naked. The Hindutva mob also threw fire on his private part, but he managed to douse it before it hurt him. The brutal attack was also shot by one of the Hindu men and shared on social media.

A case has been registered against the Hindutva mob, but no arrests have been made yet. The case was registered under IPC Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 505 (2) (statements conducing to public mischief), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Uttar Pradesh: The Heart of Ram Rajya

Uttar Pradesh housing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is the growing ground of Hindutva post-Gujarat, with growing chants across the nation of ‘Kaashi Mathura Abhi Baaki Hai’.

Incidents have been reported from Lucknow where ‘hateful communal songs’ were played by a procession celebrating the Ram Mandir ceremony near Narhi, Hazratganj. An FIR has been registered against the organiser of a ‘bhandara’ (public feast) who was playing such songs in the area. Two people have been arrested in connection with the song. The FIR has been registered under IPC 294 (singing, reciting, or uttering any obscene song in public).

“Ambedkar Nagar, Akbarpur of Uttar Pradesh, is a Muslim-majority area located on the border of Ayodhya, and police officials have reported several FIRs against hateful speeches and songs perpetrated by both Hindu and Muslim communities on social media. Besides, regular meetings with religious and administrative heads have been organised since the Ram Temple consecration to maintain peace and security in the  area, an anonymous official residing within Akbarpur, Uttar Pradesh, said.

Communal tensions have been on the rise and are reaching the edge with the increase in the number of communal media elements around the nation. While hate speeches and prejudices continue in the name of religion, peace in the long term is no less than a delusion.

As Lord Ram slowly becomes the face of ‘Viksit Bharat’, a question remains unanswered: Are hate songs, unruly mobs, and Shut-it-Down with Section 144 the new way of Naya Bharat? The upcoming Lok Sabha elections will determine the degree and intensity of the same.

Read Also: When Saffron Sparks Debates: Exploring the Aftermath of Ram Mandir Inauguration
In Educational Spaces

Featured Image Credits: The Quint

DU Beat

The University of Delhi issued a notification on January 25, 2024, outlining the formation of a committee to develop a mechanism that addresses the issue of “classes not being taken by teachers.”

The five-member committee will be comprised of principals of different DU colleges and will look into the issue of classes not being attended by professors and submit a report to the administration by February 25, 2024.

The competent authority of the University of Delhi has constituted the following committee to develop mechanisms to address the concern that classes being not taken the teachers,

– read the issued University notification.

The notification has received considerable flak from the teacher community. On the one hand, several teacher associations alleged the notification on the grounds that the delay in hiring guest faculty and discontinuation of ad hoc appointments has led to classes going unattended, while the Democratic Teachers’ Front asserts it to be “farcical” and “objectionable.”

They questioned the University’s coursework, which includes “meaningless” VAC (Value Added Courses) and SEC (Skill Enhancement Courses) which have made students lose interest in the faculty’s absence. The statement issued by the Democratic Teacher’s Front alleged,

A university which has destroyed its human resource and diluted academic programs is now questioning teachers! We fear that the aim of this exercise is to devise ways of targeting dissenting voices.

Moreover, they claimed that these classes are often conducted in extended four-hour stretches, requiring students to navigate across different colleges for attendance. The flak also extends to the lack of discipline domains for these courses, causing teachers to instruct outside their domain of expertise.

The Democratic Teacher’s Front also claims that the issue lacks genuine intent to restructure and revitalise classroom environments for students and educators.

Dr. Maya John, member of the Academic Council, raised objections to the constitution of the committee owing to its composition, since it entails examination and reports solely by principals of various colleges and thus “smacks of authoritarianism and ill-intentions.”

The association also questions the allotment of grants to colleges for infrastructure and human resources, especially concerning the 25 percent increase in student intake due to EWS expansion.

Dr. John alleged that while the DU administration prefers thrusting a huge number of School of Open Learning (SOL) examination duties on regular colleges, many colleges do not have an adequate number of classrooms, obstructing the smooth and simultaneous conduct of a large number of such exams and regular teaching, leading to a sudden and abrupt switch to online classes.

Grievances were also voiced over the faulty scheduling of college programmes, where newly appointed teachers are compelled to attend midway, hindering the teaching-learning process. They also raised questions about the neutrality of educational institutions after the hosting of RSS-VHP officials at the University.

Read also: School of Open Learning to Hold Offline Classes for its Students

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat

Kavya Vashisht
[email protected]

“Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!” When the young resist and “rebel,” people in positions of power often try to “deal” with them in their own way. Why is resistance often regarded as a menace?

It was the summer of 2015 when I first discovered the world of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins as a pre-teen in 6th grade. The Hunger Games introduced me to the world of dystopian fantasy and were as culturally impactful as they were personally influential. In the past couple of months, I have fully regressed back into my 11-year-old self and re-entered my Hunger Games era. Although I had read and watched each installation of the series multiple times, they felt different when I jumped into that world once again after the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

I experienced something more as someone on the cusp of adulthood than I did the first time around. It isn’t that the politics of the Hunger Games universe are subtle, because they just aren’t. It’s impossible to describe the plot without discussing authoritarian regimes and, in response, political revolutions.

People recognise that the whole idea of the Hunger Games is a commentary on authoritarian regimes, specifically the non-democratic ones. But in the contemporary political landscape, we can all agree that democratic regimes, although not as blatantly authoritarian as the Capitol, are still effectively restraining freedom and cracking down on dissent, our country being not so distant from it.

Re-reading the books as a young adult who, like many others my age, is becoming more disillusioned with the entirety of the Indian political system with each passing news headline led me to inevitably draw some comparisons. Before anyone locks horns with me and argues that drawing comparisons between the Indian political system, specifically its manifestation in Delhi University, and the Hunger Games is ridiculous, yes, I know that we do not have a reality television show being run by power-hungry adults where children kill each other for entertainment.

I also know that the Indian government’s power, whether past regimes or the current one, does not flow from one individual, that it does not have two opposing political parties willing to abandon morality for power, and that its force doesn’t track down and kill dissenters, stripping them of a livelihood—well, actually…

The last few pages of Mockingjay called into question all sorts of philosophical tenets and how they unfortunately manifest in our lived reality. Particularly moving is Katniss’ realisation that the leader of the revolution, President Coin, is as morally deplorable as the fallen dictator, President Snow. She realises that, although Coin’s initial intentions may have been pure, her desire for power and revenge corrupted her, replacing one oppressive regime with another. Katniss is suspicious of her from the start, often drawing parallels between the way Coin runs District 13 and how Snow controls the Capitol.

Try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace.

Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Hunger Games are an annual tradition instituted by the Capitol in order to suppress the districts and remind them of the Capitol’s absolute power. The districts must each send one female and one male tribute to fight to the death as a form of entertainment for Capitol audiences, highlighting how the oppressed are just disposable to the oppressors.

The author introduces a patronising and oppressive fictional government, one that only retains control through fear-mongering. She describes a class divide that is undeniably perverse: some are forced to hunt illegally for survival, while others drink vomit-inducing poison just so they can eat again. Panem’s government and class divisions are not as alien as we are initially led to believe. In our world, we have witnessed such abuse of power, corruption, and controlling people’s voices. To draw parallels with the government’s actions or the university administration or not to draw any, I leave that task to you, the reader.

What is Democracy when the Choices are Bad and Worse?

The main difference between Panem and modern-day India is democracy. Although the leader of Panem uses the title of President, he rules as an absolute dictator. President Snow manipulates allies, kills enemies, and terrorises his citizens in order to keep power. The story warns us of the danger of leaving too much power in the hands of the few. I believe it was the sacred nature of democracy that Collins really wanted to leave the reader with. If we take it for granted, our own Hunger Games may soon be upon us—or are we too late?

The key idea in The Hunger Games trilogy and its prequel is how violence can be used to control a nation. President Snow uses the Hunger Games as a way to remind the districts of their helplessness while also feeding his constituents’ unceasing appetite for entertainment. The story sheds light on oppression and resistance, how the youth of a nation are controlled, and the way the people in positions of power “deal” with them when they “rebel.”.

Class division, inequality between citizens, governmental oppression, human suffering, corruption, destruction of buildings, and revolution—all of these issues raised in the Hunger Games universe serve as bridges between today’s “modern” India or even the world and the fictional nation of Panem.

Democracy is certainly backsliding at our university, which was once known to lead the students’ resistance against the authoritarian British colonial government. In the institution where popular protests against authoritarian regimes in an independent India were led, be it participating in the Jayaprakash Narayan Movement or resisting the National Emergency of 1975, we are now in a time when even documentary screenings are banned, because dare we question the government in a democracy?

In August this year, Sabyasachi Das, a member of the faculty of the Economics Department at Ashoka University, resigned following a controversy over his research paper, ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy’. I believe the fact of this incident itself affirms the title of the research paper.

The one unfortunate point of commonality between dystopian literature and the real world is how we are desensitised to the extent that we become silent spectators to atrocities being committed in front of us, just like the Capitol citizens.

The Mockingjay Sings

The allegory of the Mockingjays of District 12 is the inability of the government to control these creatures, making them an inspiration and a symbol for the rebellion. Though these are fictional species, they do represent revolution and rebellion and can be associated with the current political landscape. Because the youth will certainly rise when the old are busy in a tussle of proving why the other person is worse, instead of actually working for the people, as “stupid people are dangerous.”

Through Katniss and Lucy, we see two distinct representations of society (with Lucy Gray being an “alleged” ancestor of Katniss). Sometimes soldiers are forced to be artists, and artists are forced to be soldiers, as Lucy Gray Baird was forced to fight in the Hunger Games as a mockingjay whose voice was taken away from her. Katniss Everdeen, on the other hand, was made into a spectacle when she was actually a soldier, willing to fight for her district and its people, but reduced to a set piece for entertainment.

Delving into the world of the Hunger Games from the perspective of Snow, we explore the human side of a villain. I believe that from the author’s perspective, she tries to showcase that people like Snow are not necessarily ‘monsters’ to their core, but rather real human beings who are willing to choose greed and power for their own self-interest. This is certainly representative of the larger political system in most modern-day democracies, including India, where it’s just people in positions of power constantly choosing to exploit their power and suppressing voices of revolt. But as is illustrated in the world of the Hunger Games, irrespective of the restrictive boundaries of any cage, the Mockingjay sings.

When Katniss sings “The Hanging Tree” to Pollux and the Mockingjays, she points out that she hasn’t sung it “out loud for ten years because it’s forbidden,” implying that it’s not only banned in the Everdeen house but essentially in Panem. Perhaps her father sang it around town to subtly alert the residents of District 12 that he was revolutionary, willing to do whatever it took to stand up to the Capitol.

“They say he murdered three,” the song chants, its words asserting the often-manipulative accusations of the Capitol. This song was a voice of rebellion, concocted not about a desperate lover but about a revolutionary whose plea was for his neighbours to follow him towards a fight for freedom, no matter the cost. Even if it meant they might end up hanging by his side.

Read also: Saffronisation out in the Open, Finally!

Featured Image Credits: CBS News

Gauri Garg
[email protected] 

With an overwhelming abundance of saffron flags and Jai Shree Ram chants across the North Campus of Delhi University, students have their opinions divided over the future of sanctity of educational spaces.

22nd of January, 2024 saw the North Campus of Delhi University wrapped in saffron. Saffron flags, streamers, sashes, ‘tilaks’ adorned every corner of the campus. Imprinted on them were the signs of ABVP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student-wing of RSS, along with images of Lord Ram and slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram’. Diyas spelled out as ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and a giant poster of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ marked the entrance to the Arts Faculty of Delhi University. Bhajan Mandali, LED-screens live screening the Ayodhya ceremony, community kitchens as well as a miniature structure of the Ram Mandir was established within the campus to emulate the celebrations at Ayodhya.

The Pran Pratistha Ceremony at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, Ayodhya was a truly historic moment, one that generations have waited for. We have been fortunate to witness it live with our eyes. The students of Delhi University, like the rest of the nation, were beyond themselves with joy on this occasion. The constant slogans of Jai Shree Ram during the screening held at North Campus, the hawans in various colleges, all tell us how emotional the student fraternity was about the event. Lakhs of diyas were lit across the North and South Campus, and the off-campus colleges, and the turnout for the same was completely spontaneous, especially that for more than 2.5 lakh diyas being lit at the North Campus, Chhatra Marg and the law faculty with students turning up in large numbers for them.

-Ashish Singh, State Executive Member of ABVP.

While the celebrations continued, the student community within Delhi University is divided on the connotations behind this saffron wave. Contrarily, the Faculty of Law saw the Tiranga wave on 23rd January.

“The students of the Faculty of Law conducted an event emphasising the ideas in our Preamble as well as the Indian Constitution. The event was in contrast to the politicisation of the Ram Mandir celebration by ABVP with communal slogans of ‘Kaashi Mathura Abhi Baaki Hai’ and writing ‘Hindu Rashtra’ with diyas. Like our nation, our campus is also a diverse space with students from different backgrounds enriching it and the Law Faculty event highlighted that the flag of no other ‘sangathan’ is above our Tiranga at the end of the day.”

-Hitesh Kumar, state executive member of SFI.

The three-day event conducted at the Faculty of Law since the 23rd of January saw preamble readings, marches, speeches by advocates emphasising the ideals engrained within the Preamble of the Constitution.

However, as ABVP flags overwhelmed both the campuses of Delhi University on the 22nd of January, the absence of alternate student parties’ inclusion in the celebration was alarming. Like the nation, the lack of opposition at a national event like the Ayodhya celebration led to a political showdown of saffron and ‘Jai Shree Ram’. In response to claims why the Faculty of Law event was not conducted on 22nd itself, a member of SFI says that:

We did not want to interrupt the ABVP event as the sentiments of general students would have been hurt. Anything beyond the Pran Pratistha event would have been marked as an act against a particular religion, which we are not. The Faculty of Law event was not a reactionary one. It’s the need of the time that we should remember and embrace the secular, democratic, socialist ideas enshrined in our constitution.

“We have all witnessed the saffronisation of buildings, universities and streets just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and we have taken up a nationwide campaign, ‘Modi Sarkar Ke Dus Saal’ to gauge the real issues concerning the nation like unemployment and we conducted preamble readings across DU campuses at a prime time when the constitution of India is under blatant attack and the campus is being communalized.”

-Anjali, AISA DU Secretary.

While several perspectives crop up with respect to the University embracing ‘religious symbols’ on the 22nd of January, several questions remain to be answered by the student fraternity. Should university grounds be open to embracing religious connotations? Has religion become a politicised tool in the campus and the country today? Where do we draw the line between religion and culture today?

Public-funded educational spaces must not have such blatant display of religious ceremonies. If you take a walk around Arts Faculty, Ram Mandir and bhagwa flags take over the Indian flag and this can occur only if the administration is involved along with DUSU, which is dominated by ABVP. We have requested the Dean of Arts Faculty to take down the saffron flags at our campus to let our campus be a secular space.

-Aditi, SFI DU Convenor.

With the introduction of the National Educational Policy, subtle saffronisation of public education had taken it’s roots with Hindu Studies being introduced as a major, removal of Islamic thinkers from undergraduate syllabus as well as introducing subjects like Fit India, Horoscope Reading as skill-enhancement courses. However, the Pran Pratistha Ceremony of 22nd of January, let loose the gradually boiling saffronisation and unveiled it in the open.

Cultural ceremonies pertaining to the feats of Lord Ram, Bhajan Mandalis concerning Lord Ram and slogans of ‘Ram Mandir se Ram Rajya Tak’ were heard across North Campus with hundreds of devotees gathered round. While streaks of saffron crawled through our education space previously, 22nd of January marked a saffron-tsunami for DU. And the most alarming part lay in the lack of alternative voices within the campus. This brings along another important question, is our campus still a safe-space to provide alternate views? Or will only the way of the saffron community exist from now on?

While the Hindutva debate rages on, right-wing parties often claim the salience of being a Hindu as a geographical identity, much beyond the boundaries of religion and culture. Hindutva is seen as a force of unity, a reason of national pride.

Opposing the claims of ‘communalism’ propagated by ‘Hindu Rashtra’ written using Diyas within North Campus, a state-executive member of ABVP notes that:

In our understanding, Hindu Rashtra is not a symbol of communalism, it is a geographical concept. Even if this particular word was written, there is nothing wrong in it. It is the origin of various names our country is known by like India and Hindustan.

Another perspective that must be noted in the Ram Mandir celebration was the mass number of students who turned up. Colleges across DU noticed tides of students turning up to embrace the celebration, in various ethnic attires and saffron sashes, which depicts where the sentiments of the student fraternity are mostly inclined today.

While debates rage on if the Ayodhya celebration was used as a mass-politicised tool, the association of Ram Janmabhoomi with saffron-right wing flags rather than national flags paints an all together different picture. Ram Mandir celebrations have been localized only for right-believers, as the ABVP symbol conjugated with ‘Jai Shree Ram’ flags suggests. To what extent must religion go hand in hand with politics? To what extent must religion be allowed to enter secular educational spaces?

While controversies and discussions run around in this heated political climate, we need to gauge some important answers, is the Ram Mandir celebration a symbol of United India or of Hindutva Dominance? While the national as well as campus community remains divided upon the answer, Naya Bharat aka Naya DU is rapidly reshaping itself as per majority sentiments!

Read Also: Saffronisation of Cultural Expression

Featured Image Credits: Ankita Baidya For DU Beat

Priyanka Mukherjee

[email protected]

The ‘Prana Pratishtha’ celebration of Lord Ram in Ayodhya on January 22 has evoked varied responses across India. Its impact is particularly noticeable in educational institutions, where some colleges experienced joyous events while others faced instances of violence and police intervention. Amidst resistance and celebration, the article aims to explore the question of religion within educational spaces by examining diverse perspectives.

On January 22, Ayodhya celebrated the grand opening of the Ram Mandir, which was celebrated like a national festival. A celebratory vibe permeated both outdoor and digital areas as the streets were decked out in saffron and echoed with “Jai Shri Ram” chants. Temples and streets flourished in the festive mood, signifying a unique happy occasion for believers. To underscore the importance of the occasion, several state governments went a step further and declared holidays for businesses and educational institutions.

As New Delhi was rife with saffron flags and bhakti music on January 22nd, the merriment was shared by educational institutions alike in the centre. The grandeur of the ‘Prana Pratishtha’ festival was evident by the active participation of educational institutions, with some expressing support and others voicing opposition. This dual participation highlighted the complexities of sentiments that many, particularly younger generations, had about the occasion.

The celebrations demonstrated a dichotomy in how individuals perceived the event—whether it was seen as solely religious and legitimate or as part of a greater political agenda. This interplay of ideologies was displayed with enthusiasm by diverse student groups across various universities.

Prestigious colleges like IITs and IISC, Bengaluru were out in force for celebrations. A student group at IIT Kharagpur took out a procession in support of the inauguration of the temple, while IIT Delhi organised the Akhand Ramayana path, followed by a bhandara and deepotsava

We’d been given a half-day, but then eventually the holiday extended up to being a full day. There were rallies from the main gate to another end of the campus, with many saffron flags.

-A Student from IIT-Delhi

In Ashoka University too, celebrations were observed through bhajan sandhya and pooja organised by students.

On Delhi University’s North Campus, festivities were observed at the Arts Faculty while candles were lit near the streets of Hanuman Mandir. The University of Delhi itself was shut for half a day until 2 p.m., according to the notification released by the authorities. Many such campuses across the country organised hawans, rallies, and even allowed the live telecast of ceremonies being held at Ayodhya.

In Shivaji College, University of Delhi, a student who was visiting the campus during the weekend for a debate tournament said,

Shivaji College had conducted an event with the campus being decorated with rangolis and diyas, as it set up a stage for live music performances and had visitors showing up.

This, however, is only one side of the story; many students expressed their disapproval and criticism, and not all student factions were in agreement with this kind of festive mood.

For instance, Fraternity Movement Jamia Millia Islamia organised a university-wide strike in remembrance of the Babri Masjid. “Boycott for Babri, Resistance is Remembrance,” said a post on X (previously Twitter)  by the Fraternity Movement, along with a video of students protesting with posters of the Babri masjid. As the videos of the protest went viral, police forces were deployed outside the premises as precautionary measures.

NIT Calicut’s students were forced to witness the cancellation of Thathva, their techno-management festival, which led to a stream of angry comments online. The festival was first postponed and then cancelled due to Central Security Agencies ordering the college after a student protested the Ram Mandir inaugural celebrations and was beaten up by the police, leaving no entity from the college with the power to intervene. Indignant NIT Calicut’s students’ comments read online, “Imagine all the work done by students to hear its cancellation due to a communal riot in the north.”

Tensions were also observed in Pune’s FTII (Film and Television Institute of India), where banners condemning the demolition of Babri masjid in 1992 were displayed with the statement ‘Remember Babri, Death of Constitution’. They took it a step further with the screening of the 1992 Anand Patwardhan documentary, “Ram Ke Naam.” The documentary delves into the communal violence that ensued after the Vishva Hindu Parishad campaigned to build a temple at the Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya. Additionally, they even invited Patwardhan on January 22nd for it.

However, according to a press statement released by the Students’ Association of the institute, chanting of the “Jai Shree Ram” slogan took place loudly outside the main gates, which the security was initially unresponsive to. Then, an agitated mob of 20–25 people entered the campus, and security was unable to contain them. Many students of FTII were brutally beaten up, and the banners were also damaged. 

While the side of Samast Hindu Bandhav Samajik Sanstha, who was involved in the clash, claims that the move of FTII students was offensive to the sentiments of Hindus, provocative statements against Lord Ram merely created more rift amongst two religious groups. However, the students at FTII clearly see this violence as an attack on their democratic rights. They also claim that no action was taken towards the offenders, and they were allowed to roam free.

A post on Instagram describes the events that led to the violence at the FTII Campus, which involved the vandalism of college property and harm to students. The press release statement reads,

We appeal to the police and all relevant authorities to take prompt action against those who perpetrated violence against the students and who entered with the intent to vandalise property on the campus of FTII, Pune.

The student fraternity of ILS stands in solidarity with the Students’ Association of FTII and has even released a joint statement with signed signatures. Additionally, multiple students of FTII have released their own statement with signatures, demanding a response from Bollywood actor and Chairman of the Institute, R. Madhavan.

Similarly, in another college, the Indian Institution of Science and Research (ISSER), Pune, witnessed a distinctive response from certain students. Allegedly, on January 22nd, some students celebrated the temple’s inauguration in the campus common room. The movie club coordinator then planned the screening of Ram Ke Naam, sending details to students with a description of the movie copied from its IMDB review page. Unfortunately, this led to an unexpected turn of events, with policemen arriving at the campus. They questioned the movie club coordinator and, without clear justification, took them into custody. The move has left students at ISSER feeling intimidated by law enforcement, especially since they perceive a lack of support from the college administration.

Similar cases of violence and protest were observed in places like Jadavpur University and Hyderabad University.

In Hyderabad University, NSUI, which is the student wing of the Indian National Congress, organised a protest against the inauguration by intending to screen Anand Patwardhan’s documentary ‘Ram ke Naam’. The screening was disrupted by ABVP students, leading to its cancellation. The screening was later conducted peacefully at the North Ladies Hostel in the evening. Students in opposition state that campus spaces belong to everyone; hence, it’s their democratic right to express their concerns, and the screening of ‘Ram ke naam’ was a symbol of their resistance and not a step to offend people.

We ensured that organisations conducting their events went peacefully despite threats and attempts to disrupt by ABVP. Campus spaces belong to everyone; all ideas exist here. However, the administration and ABVP don’t want dissenting voices to be heard. The student community strongly opposed the saffronization of campus spaces; they attended in large numbers for SFI’s ‘Ram Ke Naam’,

-Md. Atheeq Ahmed, HCU Union President (source: Maktoob Media).

The unfolding of two contrasting scenarios in various universities prompts reflection on the democratic principles by which the country aspires to abide. The celebration of religious victories and moments in educational institutions raises a fundamental question about the integration of religion within these spaces.

We observed different celebrations, including bhandaras and rallies, where students enthusiastically chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and danced.

Since religion is a very personal subject for me, I  personally decided not to take part because I feel it is improper to hold large-scale religious festivities in colleges where you have such a diverse population. Students from minority groups experienced exclusion as well, and those who chose not to participate in the festivities were called anti-Hindus.

-A mass communication student from Madhya Pradesh described the events at her college. 

She went on to say, “The decision to celebrate such moments should be left to individuals, and nobody should be placed in situations where they feel alienated in their own colleges.”

If institutions are justified in endorsing such events, does it imply that religion is an inherent part of educational institutions? If so, the ramifications in multi-religious countries like India are complex, as institutions should then consider accommodating the religious sentiments of each community rather than catering to the majority alone.

Would this extend to allow students from diverse communities to practice their religion within educational institutions through their own expressions of uniform, festivities, and prayers? If such practices become widespread, it raises concerns about their impact on student identity. Will the subject of religion either further divide them in spaces where they seek empowerment and education or provide them with greater freedom to embrace their individual selves?

Students are free to choose sides and voice their emotions, whether it be joy or dissent. However, carrying out religious activities in an educational setting is inappropriate and goes against the goal of the organisation, which is to safeguard students’ rights, interests, safety, and development. In these situations, political factions’ fuel for violence and conflict goes against both religious and constitutional norms.

-A second-year Delhi University history honours student

Through this, one can note that if educational institutions strive to maintain a secular nature, any form of religious exhibition contradicts their fundamental goal of providing education free from religious influences. At the same time, they must safeguard students from feelings of alienation or offence.

Can dissent coexist alongside the celebration of the auspicious arrival of Lord Ram? If one student group is allowed to express their joy, should others be hindered when they protest against it?

Lastly, considering religion is a personal matter for individuals, how appropriate is it to introduce it into educational institutions? Can our colleges and universities become safe spaces for discussions, education, and growth, free from the spectre of violence over religious differences? Can the youth liberate themselves from the constraints of rigid political and religious ideologies?

As we grapple with these questions amid both joy and turmoil, the answers lack uncertainty. The quest for meaningful resolution necessitates a delicate balance between respecting individual beliefs and nurturing an inclusive educational environment that promotes intellectual growth for all.

Read Also – Saffronisation of Cultural Expression

Image Credits – Bloomberg.com 

DU Beat 

The School of Open Learning has arranged offline classes for its students through collaborations with several Delhi University colleges.

According to the official announcement on Thursday, The School of Open Learning (SOL) has formed a partnership with about 40-50 colleges affiliated with Delhi University to facilitate in-person classes for students enrolled in distance learning courses. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed to oversee the implementation of these classes.

The University’s department of distance and continuing education will be responsible for coordinating the Personal Contact Program (PCP) classes for the distance learning students. This initiative aligns with the guidelines set forth by the University Grants Commission (UGC), ensuring that the educational practices adhere to established standards. The official statement also mentions that SOL has a student enrollment of nearly four lakh for distance learning programs.

Based on the information released by PTI, the PCP classes are organized semester-wise. For the first, third and fifth semester of undergraduate courses and the second and fourth semester of postgraduate courses, the classes are scheduled to take place from 25th January till 25th February.

Students seeking additional information regarding their assigned centers or a more comprehensive schedule of the classes can access it through the official SOL website, as stated in the official release.

Read also: DU to Establish a Panel to Craft Guidelines for Review of SOL Study Material 

 

Featured image credits: shiksha.com

Lakshita Arora

[email protected]