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I Am Offended: Sail Through the Censorship Debate

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Both, Censorship and the Freedom of Speech require a delicate balance and immense intuitiveness. Many have argued on both sides, This piece aims to highlight what ideas stand out in this debate? 

Censorship refers to moderating the information and ideas that are disseminated in the society. After entering the web of the censorship debate, there is no escape. This fascinating, unsolvable mystery has questions that lead to more questions, gently treading the path between morality and legality. Everyone’s subjective notions of what is moral, acceptable, decent, and inoffensive are at interplay.

Now a question that would make Mr Pahlaj Nihalanijump onto his toes: Is censorship a good thing?

An infamous opinion piece, in the New York Times, ‘Free Speech Is Killing Us’, addressed the issue of noxious speech. Rebutting the idea of the Internet as a beacon of progress, it reminded the readers of the social media driven campaigns of Trumpand Duterte, the murder of Heather Heyer, the massacres in Pittsburg and Christchurch. “But what about speech that’s designed to drive a woman out of her workplace or to bully a teenage into suicide or to drive a democracy towards totalitarianism?” writer, Andrew Marantz, probed his readers.

Moving away from this, on another end of this spectrum there are moral policing and unnecessary restrictions being imposed. Banning of films representing the LGBTQ community, deletion of Twitters posts talking about casteism, unnecessary edits on several films by the former Chief of Sankar Board and being tagged as ‘anti-national’ for expressing dissent.

What such pieces necessitate are a need to draw lines around some content on the internet. But how easy is this task? Youtube’s ban on violent content resulted in reportage of the Syrian war being take down, Twitter’s rules about sexual content led to information on sexual health also being removed. Regulations can, therefore, close doors on several avenues to spread awareness.

A move criticised for its timing right before the General Elections, stricter social media regulations were put in place. The authorities claimed this was done to curb misinformation. This would require content deemed as “unlawful” by government will have to be erased from Facebook, Google, TikTokand other platforms. WhatsAppwill be required to decrypt encrypted data, to trace it to its original sender. Netflix, Hotstarand seven other platforms have begun self-regulation in attempts to avoid censorship. This played in favour of, our favourite mota bhai, Mr Mukesh Ambani, for obvious reasons.

Stringent censorship can be found in countries like China, Saudi Arabia and Russia. With more than 150 days of internet shutdown in Kashmir, how long before we enter the list?

Journalism, as an independent and impartial body, is not meant to serve the establishment. Its duty is to question, educate and be the voice of people. It was not birthed to be controlled. A democracy seizes to exist when its journalists, activists and reporters begin to live in fear. The ABP row and stepping down of two leading journalists demonstrated the heights of control over the press. The gruesome violence at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was also a dark day in the history of the press.

Free speech is an inextricable part and the cornerstone of a democracy. Dissent cannot be suppressed under the garb of censorship, because with changing times, the youth refuses to settle and rather demands what’s better. The New York Times piece warns against absolutism and how it cannot be used as an opt out from harassment. It is a right to be exercised with full responsibility. Use of force cannot be a medium to extinguish protests and silence voices of people.

Going back to the dilemma we started with, one’s morality emerges from their upbringing, culture, values, and education. The same rules cannot hold true for all, which makes censorship an endless debate. While morality is where we use our discretion, the higher authorities have the onus of the legalities of it.

Feature Image Credits: Debate.Org

Shivani Dadhwal

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DUB Speak

Editorial: Fighting the Thought Police: Social Media and Dissent

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These are powerful times. These are politically volatile times. These are disappointing times. These are resisting times. Most important of all, these are questioning and questionable times.

With the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) being protested against vehemently in the North-East and across the rest of the country, including the popular hubs of politics and entertainment – Delhi and Mumbai – respectively, the citizens of the country are awakening to the anti-people policies of the current administration, including (but not limited to) the controversial abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, the policies to privatize education, the Trans Person’s Bill, and the continual curbing of dissent by arresting protesting activists. As I write this, the Farmers’ Leader, Akhil Gogoi, is being charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act – a move that has invited widespread criticism for its arbitrary and oppressive nature.

In a backdrop such as this, it is impossible to go about one’s life – especially as students who study Foucault, Orwell, Ambedkar, and Marx in the classrooms of one of the premier universities of the country – without being the least bit affected with the socio-political climate of the country. The slogan, “Personal is political” manifests itself  powerfully before us, now more than ever, since the majority of us who are on any social networking platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, among many others, cannot possibly scroll through the feeds nonchalantly, without coming across stories, posts, or articles on the current climate. What, then, becomes of social media activism?

I confess that I myself, in the past, have sneered at ‘social media influencers’ and the like, believing that the social and cultural capital enjoyed by them, by virtue of their popularity, was taking up unfair space in the powerful discourse of ground-level activism. However, the past few months have altered this perspective drastically, because social media has now seemingly emerged as the preferred space of discourse for many, includingsystematically disenfranchised communities like trans-people, women, and people from conservative households. When paramilitary troops and police forces are employed in the ratio of three is to one, at organised protests in India Gate, Jantar Mantar, and brutalise the students of Jamia (JMI), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), among other locations, then being on-ground becomes a life and death battle for many from the aforementioned communities.

Social media, then, serves as the forum to express dissent, become informed, and share awareness. This is not to say that the women at Shaheen Bagh, sitting in the chilling winter of Delhi for about a month now, are not palpable to a violent crackdown, or that the resistance that has engulfed Kashmir for multiple decades is on equal footing with sharing a tweet, but it is to acknowledge the newfound power that is threatening the authorities in control. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) IT cell has been notoriously in the news for circulating numbers, advertising that calling said numbers would get the people “free subscription to Netflix” or rendezvous with porn-stars. Doctored photos of students holding placards like “Hinduo ki kabrkhudegi” instead of the original “Hindutva ki kabra khudegi,” were instantly circulated in social media pages, attempting to polarize communal sentiments against students at JMI and AMU. In no time after actress Deepika Padukone stood behind JNU Students’ Union President, Aishe Ghosh, and activist Kanahiya Kumar, that the hashtag “BoycottChhapak” was trending on social media and sexually profanity being hurled at her. Internet lockdown in Kashmir has continued for over 150 days now, while internet services in numerous states like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, and Gujarat were blocked. Instances like this are testimony to the fact that any platform of public dissent, especially a technologically savvy one like social media that people from older generations in the administration are largely unable to grasp or master, acts to counter the narrative of normalcy our Prime Minister has been propagating with his famous line – “Sab changa si!” A single tweet on the everyday violence in the country is indeed momentous enough to throttle this false narrative.

While the criticism against social media has always been the legitimacy of the sources and the accountability of any debates/discussions over it, private citizens like Mitali Bhasin, Sukhnidh Kaur, Pravan Sawhney, Divya Kandukuri, are some of the few names who have set precedent for researching their own resources for news and compiling information for public use in these tumultuous times. Pages like With Kashmir, and media houses like The Wire, The Print, Quint have proven to be reliable sources of information and discourses, publicized and accessible through social media platforms.

The language barrier parting English, Hindi, and other regional languages in India has always been a drawback for left liberal discourse in India, and the dearth of similar resources / activism in languages apart from English, including in Hindi, remains a blind-spot that needs correction in an era where the voting public, from Savarna households, including in our family WhatsApp groups is unaware of the manipulation and propaganda being targeted towards them, because of language or technological gaps that disengage their participation in social media activism. However, as millennials and post-millennials, it is our prerogative to engage in sharing the information that reaches us, creating the much-needed space for dissent amid the hoardings of propaganda.

Most important of all, it is time that to take heed of all the tools at our disposal in fighting violence sponsored by the State. It is time to change those display pictures to red, to make highlights on Instagram with curated information, to tweet and flood the judiciary, the Police, and the ministries, because when we fight fascism in Orwellian times like these, it becomes poignant to break free, in any and all ways possible, from what 1984 labelled the Thought Police.

Anushree Joshi

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Campus Central

DUTA Marches to Parliament Street and Courts-Arrest

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On 10th January 2020, University of Delhi (DU) teachers marched from Mandi House to the Parliament Street demanding absorption of all teachers, promotion and pension among other issues. Following them Courting-Arrest, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) office bearers were invited to meet the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Secretary, UGC Chairperson and Jt. Secretary, MHRD at the Ministry.

Releasing a Press Release, DUTA Office Bearers expressed their discontentment with MHRD’s failure in the implementation of the 5 December Record of Discussions in entirety. The officials have expressed their commitment to implement the same. In this context, DUTA representatives pointed out the inaction on the Vice Chancellor (VC)’s part in implementing the 5th December Record of Discussions with respect to releasing option forms and initiating the promotion process. They also pointed out the non-implementation of the proposed relief on screening criteria and counting of past services.

The release of additional Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) expansions on student-teacher ratio along with University’s (in)action to ensure that no ad hoc is displaced due to the EWS reservation until permanent appointments are made; were also raised.

Dr Agnitra Ghosh, Professor, Kamla Nehru College, Member of DUTA, told DU Beat, “The ruling regime is hell bent on pushing more and more policies of contractualization to destroy public universities. And the DUTA and faculty members of DU are fighting against that. The entire system of ad hocism has created a situation of employment without any security and dignity. Now, the admin further wanted to downgrade ad hoc position to guest, which was resisted. For the last 10 years, DU faculty members have been denied promotions. A university can’t run in this way without basic minimum facilities provided to it’s faculty members. But DU teachers are consistently fighting back and we have also received overwhelming solidarity from the student community of DU.”

With regard to the association’s key demand, one-time absorption of temporary ad-hoc teachers, MHRD stated that only Governemt should take a decision on the same. DUTA expressed their disapproval and sought justness of the fact that several thousand young teachers have been languishing for long years without permanent jobs.

Discussing over the release of the corrected concordance tables for revision of pensions, DUTA officials were informed that the matter was presented before the Finance Ministry. Demand for the withdrawal of the letter dated 21.04.2019 to the University by MHRD was also raised, for which they were asked to pursue the matter with the Finance Ministry.

Apart from this, DUTA submitted a memorandum stating the other long-standing demand of teachers, the resolution of the UGC Regulations 2018, which has a direct bearing on the pending promotions. DUTA officials also expressed their opposition to the Draft New Education Policy 2019’s anti-education recommendations, uniting against the corporatisation of higher education. DUTA reiterated their demand for the VC’s resignation.

Since 4th December 2019, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has been on an indefinite strike and a 24-hour indefinite dharna outside the Vice Chancellor’s Office seeking absorption, promotion and pension for ad hocs and temporary staff.

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Anandi Sen
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Around the Campus

Gargi College Prohibits Protests on Campus

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 After protests in Gargi College campus against the violence endured by students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the government’s anti-people policies, the administration prohibited students from protesting in campus premises.

 On 6th January 2020, the students of Gargi College carried out a peaceful protest and discussion in the campus against police brutality in campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and against Citizenships (Amendment) Act (CAA)-National Register of Citizens (NRC). The gathering was supported by the Students’ Union and was attended by students with posters and placards.

However, on behalf of the Principal, Dr. Promila Kumar, the Union Advisor asked for the protest to be shut down as the posters, apparently, were inappropriate. The advisor also asked the students to carry out the discussion indoors and prohibited sloganeering.

As a result, the students of Gargi College proceeded to recite slogans outside their Campus.

 On 7th January, the Principal, then, in a discussion with the protestors, said that no gathering would be permitted without the principal’s written permission.

The administration of the Gargi College released a notice prohibiting students from participating in any protests unapproved by the principal, stating that all students found doing so would be punished. Moreover, the college now requires prior permission from the police for any gathering outside the college.

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Official Notice by the administration

The notice read, “All students are hereby informed that no gathering or protest of any form in the college premises is allowed without the prior approval of the Principal. Further, the prior permission is required from the police for any protests/gathering outside the College. In case, any student is found protesting in the College premises, disciplinary action shall be taken against such student. Further, if any student protests outside the college, such students shall be solely responsible for his/her action.”

 Ashwini, an Applied Psychology student of the college says, “The gathering was actually something which was approved and put forward by the Students’ Union for which the permission has been granted. However, seeing this bipolar behaviour has upset me to my very core. My college has always been a safe space for something like this, so this wasn’t really something I expected.”

A student, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “On one hand, by calling it a form of protection the College administration and Principal wanted the College to remain away from tangible issues, as they feared misrepresentation. At the same while, the students wanted to stand up and speak out together. It became a conflict inside the College itself where the positivity of solidarity transformed into negativity and resentment amongst students, students’ union, and the authorities.”

The Gargi College Student Union, on 10th January, along with college Department Presidents, organised another gathering in support of students and against the acts of brutality, which went on peacefully.

Students and teachers were witnessed reciting Hum Dekhenge, Hum Honge Kaamyab and other songs in solidarity. Members of Upstage, the stage play society of Gargi College also enacted a small performance on the ongoing distress in the Nation. The gathering ended with a recitation of the Preamble of the Constitution.

 

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Official statement by Students’ Union, Gargi College

Image Credits: Instagram @studentuniongargi

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Satviki Sanjay

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Campus Central

DU Students Come together in Support of All India General Strike : Bharat Bandh

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On Wednesday, 8th January 2020, students of University of Delhi (DU) gathered in hundreds and took to roads to express their agitation towards the Government in a peaceful protest. 

Commencing from the Faculty of Arts, North Campus, the March comprised of not only students but teachers and various political organisations as well. This commotion was followed by the immoral series of events that recently took place in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after similar incidents happened in Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Students of DU protested in solidarity with those who were victims of police brutality and hooliganism inside college campuses.

 Maitreyi, member of Pinjra tod said, “DU students came together in large numbers today to send a message to this fascist government that the students and citizens of this country won’t be scared into silence. The terror they have unleashed within universities like Jamia, AMU, and JNU clearly shows that the government fears students and wants to suppress any kind of dissent. The thousands of students that turned up today to protest against this fascist government shows that they’ve failed. Colleges like St. Stephen’s which is deemed to be highly isolated from campus politics and larger politics as well saw that 400 hundred students protested and marched within the campus and then marched towards arts faculty. Most colleges have a turnout of hundreds of students here today. The government has failed to instil fear in students through Delhi police. We will march and we will fight this government every step of the way. we won’t forget Kashmir or the trans bill and demand that this fascist state immediately rolls back the CAA and cancels the NRC/NPR. We will continue to be on the streets until this is done.”

Rain in January’s cold weather didn’t deter the students from expressing their dissent against the Government. The crowd chanted slogans against Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP). Students also showed up with Dhapli (Tambourine), making the protest musical. The outcry of students heard slogans like Inquilab Zindabad and CAA wapis lo (Revoke CAA). The rally covered the entire North Campus with constant energy throughout.

Simran Chawdhary, Member of United Against Hate (Umar Khalid’s organisation) said, “This is against the violence that penetrates on our campuses that are supposed to be our safe spaces for us to debate and deliberate. You can’t enter campuses with lathis and axes and getaway. This fight won’t end until each one of us feels safe. Our campuses are our home and no one will get away with violence. This is against ABVP goons who get funded by the right wing organisations. It’s high time Modi and Amit Shah stop behaving like arrogant goons.”

 At the end of the rally, various speakers took turns to express their resentment against the Government. Gautam Bhatia, renowned advocate spoke about how the recently proposed actions of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tarnishes the efforts of those great leaders who made India, the Nation it is today. Gulfisha from Seelampur also addressed the crowd and shared with them how she and dozens of other women stand strong even after the atrocities faced by them in Seelampur.

The protest didn’t stay restricted to one cause but rather, different groups of people uprose on different issues and came together to support each other.

Featured Image Credits: Avni Dhawan for DU Beat

Avni Dhawan

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Campus Central

Criminal Complaint Against Author Arundhati Roy for Her NPR-NRC Speech

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Author Arundhati Roy is facing a criminal complaint for a comment made by her in her speech on National People’s Registry (NPR) and National Registry of Citizens (NRC) during a protest.

Author Arundhati Roy is facing criminal charges after she had a police complaint filed against her as reported on 27th December 2019. The award-winning author was booked for a comment she made during her “controversial” speech at the University of Delhi (DU) regarding the NPR-NRC. The complaint was lodged in Delhi’s Tilak Marg police station by advocate Rajiv Kumar Ranjan, who has demanded that an FIR be registered against her.

The FIR against the author has been requested under Sections 295A- deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs; 504-intentionally insulting, and thereby gives provocation to any person, intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the public peace, or to commit any other offence; 153- wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot, and 120B- party to criminal conspiracy-of the Indian Penal Code.

The author had urged netizens ‘lie’ during census over NPR, or give ‘fake names and addresses.” The author had told the crowd that the NPR- National Population Register- would serve as a database for the NRC. But what’s even more shocking was that Roy had said that the Modi government shouldn’t be given the remaining four years,” the complaint said, as reported by News18.

 In a controversial comment, Roy said, “But we have to fight them for the next 4 years. Firstly, we should not give them four years, but we must have a plan. When they come to your house asking for your name, you give them some other name — like Ranga Billa, Kung-Fu Kutta, give your address as Seven Race Course road and let’s fix one phone number. But we need multiple subversions. We were not born to face lathis and bullets.”

Uma Bharti, a Bhartiya Janata Party leader, commented, “I ashamed to take the name of such a woman that idolises people like Ranga-Billa. Her views are not only anti-women, anti-humanity, but also shows a very disgusting mentality.”

Roy later clarified on 27th December that was she intended was to “propose civil disobedience with a smile,” and also blamed media houses for misinterpreting her speech. This controversy comes after the ongoing protests against the government’s CAA, NRC, NPR bills.

Feature Image Credits: PTI file

Shreya Juyal

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Arts & Culture

Student Led Dissent and Mental Health

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Students have taken up the dissenting role in society against brutality and unconstitutional laws, but how does it affect ones mental health and what are some measures they can take?

Student led protests all over the country and especially in the capital have rocked the Nation. As more and more students take to the streets and fight for their idea of India, it has become quite easy to see student protesters as one uniform body. However, vilifying by several media outlets have also led to many forgetting that these are simply just students, who are protesting for what they think is right. For many of us, it is all a new and scary, which might affect us in ways we aren’t aware of and hence, we should not forget to take care of our mental health.

Many students had read about State suppression and brutality in their history books, but seeing it happen in real time in the country and the city where one lives can be a lot to comprehend rationally. Aditi Gutgutia, a first year student from LSR, shared “I’ve heard my friends cry over these atrocities. I’m seeing my country, it’s people, fall to a ground where there doesn’t seem to be any coming back from. And I’m scared. I have never been this vocal or even aware about politics, but now I realize how crucial it is to stand up for what you believe is right. “

In such a politically charged atmosphere, everyone has different opinions and constant defending of one’s opinions can also prove tiring. Bhavika, a DU student and founder of The Happy Company, an online platform where people can reach out for psychological help brings this into view with a different perspective. She said “ we received a messages from people of both sides of the argument. As an individual I have my own political views but as a psychological assistant, it’s my duty to detach myself from those views while listen to someone venting out, and this is how we’ve trained our Volunteers.Over the past few weeks, a lot of us have got into heated arguments over the issue, and that effects us and the other person, more than we think.”

Asmita, a member of Antaraal, which provides free psychological aid to all the students who are going through any form of psychological distress, brought into account that the emotions we feel are complex in this matter. “People are feeling a lot of despair because of whats going on, they are feeling afraid because either they or their friends are involved, they are also feeling very angry at the same time and wanting to do something. Its a lot of complex emotions. A lot of the calls that are coming in are from students who were not previously active in politics, and to them its a very new thing and they don’t know how to react, how much can they push, there is a lot of resistance from their families who are not very happy that they are doing this so they have to fight another battle at home.”

She also suggested some ways to keep one’s mental health at a stable place in these times. Firstly, she suggested not to deny emotions and feelings. She suggested not thinking about whether we are under-reacting or over reacting, and to be in touch with our emotions. She also pointed out the importance of taking a break, to refuel, get better and prepare and not feel that it is a lone fight, and try to look at the positive support from so many others. In the end she said that while emotions and rationality are not two separate things and we should embrace our emotions to help ourselves and others, it is also important to get educated and to talk to people who have more knowledge on the issue, because with information and not just an emotional argument, it will be very hard to dismiss us.

Feature Image Credits: The Wire

Prabhanu Kumar Das

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AISA

Kawalpreet Kaur Detained at Mandir Marg Police Station 

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Delhi police detains Kawalpreet Kaur, President, All India Students’ Association (AISA) along with 40 other protesters at Mandir Marg police station after protest at Assam and UP Bhawan against Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).

Kawalpreet Kaur, President, All India Students’ Association (AISA) tweeted on early hours of Monday, December 23, 2019, urging people to gather at UP Bhawan, Delhi at 11 AM to demand the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath or Ajay Bisht.

 

The demand was raised after the rising atrocities against Muslims under Yogi Adityanath government. Within a few hours, another update followed, stating, protestors have been brutally assaulted by the Delhi Police and picked up from UP Bhawan. Kaur was dragged by Delhi Police cops from an auto outside the Bhawan, she was thereafter taken to the bus which had only four other women detainees. She was assaulted and eventually dropped off at the Mandir Marg Police Station.

 

Along with Kaur, over 40+ individuals were detained, however, lawyers arrived on time. Protestors were also picked up from Assam Bhawan who were also taken to Mandir Marg Police Station. 

 

However, the police denied all allegations and spoke to The New Indian Express, saying “We only arrested the protestors from UP Bhawan after we got the orders. We never detained an innocent.”

Prabhanu Kumar Das, Student of Kirori Mal College who was also detained at Mandir Marg Police Station, says, according to the police, Section 144 was imposed but he said he was there along with only one other person when he got detained. He said, “Police barged the streets and looked for anyone who fit the profile for detention i.e. students.” He further sent an audio saying that he was walking away from the Assam Bhawan but was still detained, “As soon as police started detaining people, we dispersed. However, Police were picking up students in groups of 2 or 4 in far corners of the street and taking them to Mandir Marg Police Station.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Kawalpreet Kaur on Facebook

Anandi Sen

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DUB News

DUTA to continue strike, march to VC’s office on the 23rd.

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The DUTA General Board met on 20th December 2019 to determine the association’s trajectory of actions as they move forward with the strike 

The General Board Meeting (GBM) Resolution passed by Delhi University’s Teachers’ Association (DUTA) on 20th December, begins by congratulating the teachers for making the strike effective and encouraging them to continue the day-night dharna ta the Vice Chancellor’s Office. It further appeals to them to boycott their evaluation and other official duties, in view of the association’s demands remaining unaddressed. The General Body also decided to extend its indefinite strike as ad-hoc teachers across the university, in different colleges, continue to be removed. The judgment spells out an urgent need for protestors to proactively push for the absorption of ad-hoc teachers on the basis of the Department of Personnel and Training Roster and promotion of teachers with their ad-hoc experience also being taken into consideration.

The General Body goes on to condemn the Vice-Chancellor of the University for his blatant disregard of the association’s persistent demands and refusal to revoke the highly contested 28th August 2019 letter, in the judgment. On account of the VC’s inaction, the General Body laid down various mass action programs, for the coming week; On Monday, 23rd December, a march on campus is scheduled to be held against the VC to demand the immediate implementation of Record of Discussion of 5th December 2019. The following day on Tuesday, 24th December, DUTA will hold a press conference on the issue of Absorption and other issues that stand before them. While, at colleges, where ad-hoc teachers have been terminated, DUTA Office Bearers are to correspondingly decide on an action programme if concerned principals do not immediately act upon the University Letter of 12th December 2019.

 The resolution appeals staff associations to further their support for and participation in the agitation and urges them send in suggestions before the next Extended Executive on 27th December 2019 which is to be immediately followed by the next DUTA GBM on 27th December 2019 when a review of the past week will be held and another plan of action will be accordingly formulated.

 

Prisha Saxena

[email protected]

 

Image Credits: DU Beat Archive

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Arts & Culture

Suppressing Dissent: Anti CAA Protests in Delhi

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On the 19th December 2019, the entire country came to the streets to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and so did the citizens of the capital city of Delhi.

Initially, there were supposed to be two marches. The first protest from the Red Fort to the Shaheed Park, starting at 11 a.m, and the second protest from Mandi House to the Parliament Street, starting at 12 a.m. IA cautionary precursors, people shared numbers of legal help and emergency protocols for protests on social media to spread awareness. However, as people all over Delhi were enthusiastically choosing where to go, it turned out that the protest at the Red Fort was denied permission by the Police citing security reasons.

On the morning of the 19th, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation gradually started closing all the pivotal stations near the protests: Jamia Milia Islamia, Lal Quila, Jama Masjid, Vishwavidhayala, ITO. Soon, the Mandi House station was closed too. The Protesters heading to Mandi House received tips that police were arbitrarily detaining protesters before the protest had even started.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police had already started detaining people at the Lal Quila as well. Among those detained, Yogendra Yadav, a political leader, was also present.

Soon, the police spread out of Mandi House where they continued to detain protesters who had gathered nearby. Further news of Internet and Airtel and Vodafone network blockades, the shutting down of 21 metro stations, and 100 road blockades aggravated the sense that the government was actively trying to quell another peaceful protest before it even began.

It was found out that the detained were being taken to Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana in Haryana, far away from the location of the protests.

Through word of mouth and WhatsApp, the protesters who were not detained and those who had gotten off at adjoining metro stations were told to assemble at Shaheed Park. However, even this was met by a police blockade and lathi charges,  including one very close to Barakhamba.

In a remarkable show of student solidarity and organization, against a Government actively trying to quell them by blocking their options, various student political parties and others got together in the spur of the moment. The protest which had already changed destinations thrice, finally led to Jantar Mantar.

Finally, after a shaky start, the protest at Jantar Mantar proceeded powerfully. The ground was heavily blockaded by the police, with a water cannon in place, in case things go awry. The land was echoing with the cries of ”Gali Gali me nara hai, Hindustan humaara hai” and “Modi-Shah ki Tanashahi, Nahi Chalegi-Nahi Chalegi”.

People were carrying creative posters saying “Student Unity Long Live”, “Orange is the New Black” and “Media more like Modia”.

There were people from all walks of life, from students to middle-aged men and women, united for a common cause. Among those present were parties like Krantikari Yuva Sangathan, Students’ Fderation of India, All India Students’ Association, and Communist Party of India. Eventually, the metro stations of Rajiv Chowk, Barakhamba Road, and Janpath, the three closest to the protest grounds were also closed. Despite that, people still managed to come in heavy numbers and join the protest.

Amongst heavy police presence in Jantar Mantar, the protests carried on for hours where the voices of our generation and those against the fascist government were heard loud and clear throughout Delhi and the Nation.

Feature Image Credits: Scroll

Satviki sanjay

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Prabhanu Kumar Das

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