Bengaluru: The JNU incident led to a ripple of protest across the country, Bengaluru included. Last weekend, Shehla Rashid, vice-president of the JNU Students’ Union, arrived in the city to help garner support for their cause, visiting St Joseph’s College.
She requested the students present to organise a solidarity march here in Bengaluru on Tuesday, which would take place alongside one in Delhi, demanding the release of Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid, two students arrested on charges of sedition.
The protest in Bengaluru was, in a word, electrifying. A fleet of policemen stood guard as over 300 students and activists came together at Town Hall, for an evening marked by fiery speeches and a slogan-filled march to Banappa Park.
There was only one minor glitch, which took place at the start – a group of students arrived demanding a debate. "They were taken away in police vans immediately, though," said Chris Thomas, a student from St Joseph's and a member of the organising committee. "After that, things went well – the atmosphere was quite electric."
The protestors' demands included government allowing students to be more political on campuses – which proved quite valid – “Some of the colleges we invited responded to us saying students were not allowed to take part in political activities," said Thomas. They also called for the release of Anirban and Khalid and the passing of the Rohith Act.
Timothy Jairaj, a student of St Joseph's who was at the protest, said, “We live in a culture that tells kids not to ask the question 'why'. Our education system emphasises this as well, we're taught to memorise without asking questions. As a student, it's your job to revisit the discourses of history, but instead of encouraging this, the government serves up racist jokes and textbooks written by Dina Nath Batra.”
The protest was more than standing in solidarity with JNU or Rohith Vemula. Surya HK, one of the participants in the protest said, “It was a platform for students from various colleges to come together and demand individual liberty as well as the freedom from discrimination against caste and sexual mirnorities.
The right to dissent is essential for a student, because we’re supposed to be free-thinking. This is a dangerous trend being set by the government, because the imposition of any ideology, whether it favours the left or the right, shouldn't be done.”
