In what is being seen as the next biggest uprising India saw since Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption, the protest march that commenced today on India Gate has surely got the parliament at its toes.
The official time of beginning the protest was 9 am, however such was the charge amongst people that a significant crowd could be seen assembling from 7:30 am. Slogans of “Delhi Police hai hai!”, “Hang the rapist” and “We want justice” echoed across the entire stretch of Rajpath. Several street play groups came up and vehemently put forward the appeal of death penalty, or something more harsh and cruel for the perpetrators. A very significant part of this protest was that a lot of school students could be seen, accompanied by their teachers. They could be seen holding banners and echoing the appeals that the entire nation seems to voice- punish hard and punish fast.
Celebrities preferred to hide behind the veils of Twitter and their support ended at that. “It seems ironical. The same celebrities who say so many things about social change on T.V. never actually do something to use their star power to the
fullest potential”, said Nikita, a protestor. Gopal Krishna Gandhi, former Governor of Bengal showed up to voice his support.
According to me, this protest was slightly different from its past counterparts and by different I mean in a good sense. Lesser were the number of men who went to protests to engage in some “bird watching”. Lesser were the attention seeking people trying to hog into media limelight by coming to such territories. Lesser were the number of people who came with their friends to watch the tamasha. Of course, you could spot some bored looking men wandering aimlessly, giving the protestors a queer expression, clearly realizing they don’t fit in. You could also spot some ladies all dressed up in the “perfect protest March ensemble” trying to attract a media person to let her protest in front of the camera.
However, as far as the majority was concerned, the anger within them seemed genuine and an honest concern for the
rape victim could be felt. There was unity in the crowd which prevented the crowd from turning into a violent mob. The only violence that existed was towards the inefficiency of the police and law makers.
Later on, things turned a little problematic when the crowd tried to force themselves in into the President House premises. The police began a lathi charge and tear gas was splashed. This only perpetuated the anger towards the government. Many people were injured and admitted into RML hospital.
Image credits: Kirti Narain
Congress’ student wing NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) made a clean sweep at the DUSU polls on Saturday 15th September by winning all three top posts of President, Vice-President and Secretary. After the results were announced, the losing side (ABVP activists) started pelting stones at the ABVP office, broke through the tight security and barricades. Subsequently, Delhi Police had to lathi charge the gathered ABVP activists while they shouted anti-Congress slogans and demanded the recounting of votes. ABVP suspects something fishy behind the counting of votes.
Trauma Centre. “It’s not about winning or losing the polls. It’s about the way Delhi Police reacted when our students demanded recounting of votes. I hope DUSU officials look into the matter and do the needful.” said a disappointed Vijay Goyal, BJP Leader.
Saturday, September 15, 2012 Congress’ student wing NSUI swept the Delhi University Students Union polls, winning all three top posts of president, vice president and secretary. NSUI’s Arun Hooda defeated, a margin of 5,465 votes. As against Arun who got 17,621 votes Choudhry secured just 12,156 votes.
alleged rigging in the elections and staged protest at the Delhi Universitycampus, to control which the police had to resort to lathi charge. Since the morning, the area near the University Plaza and Dean Student welfare where the counting was taking place was cordoned off by the police and nobody, not even the media was allowed in.