Tag: citizenship act protest

Private Passivity

A poem on turning a blind eye to the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

This poem is written in the style of W.H. Auden’s famous ‘Refugee Blues‘. It refers to how in times of political turmoil, private universities and some people choose to remain silent.

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“Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you’ll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.”
– W.H. Auden

Across manicured gardens within a gated university and on an LCD TV,
We watch the protests on the news, (over the curve of a burgeoning stomach), watch passively,
Hum kuch nahi karenge, meri jaan, hum kuch nahi karenge.
(We will do nothing about this, my dear, will do nothing about this.)

Tear gas lobbed at students in JMI, DU and AMU
Students (our future) riddled with, “not fired” bullets in the ICU.
Hum bas dukh ke sath baat karenge, main meri jaan, hum bas baat karenge.
(We will only speak of this with lament my dear, only speak of this.)

The country gathers to condemn the callous CAA,
Some risking their, ‘reputation’ for it, even their lives, along the way.
Hum kuch nahi karenge, meri jaan, hum kuch nahi karenge.
(We will do nothing about this, my dear, will do nothing about this.)

“We tried with the administration”, we tell each other,
“Admin, (oh that all-powerful, divine admin!) wanted to remain a-political one way or another.
Hum yahi soch ke chain milenge, meri jaan, hum yahi soch ke chain milega.
(We will receive comfort from these thoughts, my dear, we will receive comfort from these thoughts.)

The fight goes on, the fight for justice rages.
Our biggest bid for justice were, ‘hashtags’ on Instagram pages.
Hum kuch nahi karenge, meri jaan, hum kuch nahi karenge.
(We will do nothing about this, my dear, we will do nothing about this.)

One day – today – I hope we will see past our privilege and class,
Walk with you my fellow students through our democracy’s shattered glass.
That does not reflect any light anymore.
But the future I hope, has better things in store.

It is in our passivity, that unconstitutional activities gain strength
But from our resistance, that equation could be bent
To represent what is fair, kind and about this I am emphatic,
100% democratic, yes democratic.

Hum iss bar saath chalenge meri jaan, hum iss bar zaroor saath chalenge
(We will definitely walk together this time, my dear, definitely walk together.)

Featured image credit: Pariplab Chakraborty

In an Open Letter, IIM-A Students Condemn the Citizenship (Amendment) Act

As of today, the letter has more than 1,955 signatures of college students from across the country.

The students of Indian Institute of Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have released an open letter condemning the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. The Act, they say, is “discriminatory” and goes against the basic ethos of the Indian Constitution.

A week ago, the President cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill after it was passed in both the houses of the Parliament amidst strong criticism from the opposition. This Act will give citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan [– namely Hindus, Sikh, Jain, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians –] provided they have lived in India for six years.

Some politicians, students and activists have been protesting the Act ever since it was tabled in the Lok Sabha.

In the same vein, the students at IIM-A, a week ago, started an open letter opposing the Bill, now an a law, with a few signatories from within the campus. Soon after, the letter went viral in campuses across India, racking up over 1,955 signatures as of today.

Students from others IIMs, IITs, Delhi University, Jadavpur University, state central universities and other colleges have also signed the letter.

“..the Act is inconsistent with India’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the international law principle of non-refoulement of refugees, irrespective of caste, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or political ideology.

The Act, in its current form, is also likely to harm the interests of the indigenous people of India’s Northeast. India, as a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has a responsibility to protect the land, cultural and linguistic rights of the indigenous people,” says the letter.

50 IIM-A students detained

Meanwhile, over 50 persons, who gathered outside IIM- Ahmedabad to protest police action on Jamia students, were detained on Saturday, December 16.

Along with activists, including Shamshad Pathan of Alp-Sankhyak Adhikar Manch, several faculty members, students of IIMA, CEPT University and other prominent institutions were also taken into custody for agitating on the footpath outside IIMA.

Noted activist and classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai also took part in the demonstration, but she was not among those who were detained. The official said the protesters, mainly from outfits like Alpsankhyak Adhikar Manch and ANHAD, besides other NGOs and civic rights groups, did not have permission to assemble at the place, adding that they would be released soon.

“We have detained 50 protesters for not taking permission to assemble at the place, which is near a road. They were causing a traffic jam. They will be released soon,” Inspector H M Vyas of Gujarat University police station said.

Activist Dev Desai said that besides activists, several faculty members, students of IIMA, CEPT University and other prominent institutions were detained for holding protests on the footpath outside IIMA.

The updated letter with the names of all the signatories can be read here:-

Open Letter Against Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 by The Wire on Scribd

With PTI inputs

Featured image credit: IIM Ahmedabad official site

Fact Check: BJP Shared Doctored Video to Paint AMU Students as Anti-Hindu

An edited version of a video of students chanting slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar and casteism was pushed by right-wing accounts in which the anti-Hindutva slogan is made to sound as if it is against “Hindus”.

A video of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act is being circulated on social media with a claim that they raised slogans against Hindus. BJP Yuva Morcha vice president Santosh Ranjan Rai posted the video with the message, “हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर.यह भारत में सुनने को मिल रहा है भाई  (The grave of Hindus will be dug on the chest of AMU. We are getting to listen this in India -translated)”

Fact-check

With the help of a keyword search on Twitter, Alt News found the same video with better audio and video quality. Listening to the video posted below, it becomes clear that the claim about the students raising anti-Hindu slogans is false. They were actually raising slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar, BJP, Brahminism and casteism.

Here, the students can be heard saying, “हिंदुत्व की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, सावरकर की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये बीजेपी की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ब्राह्मणवाद की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये जातीवाद की कब्र. (grave of Hindutva will be dug on the chest of AMU, grave of Savarkar will be dug on the chest of AMU, this BJP’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Brahminism’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Casteism’s grave will be dug -translated)”. It may be noted that this video was uploaded on December 12, 2019.

Moreover, we matched the above video with the viral version and found that the video has been zoomed-in in the version that is presently viral as compared to the clearer version above. The audio quality of the video has significantly deteriorated in the viral version uploaded and downloaded multiple times on social media in a cyclic pattern.

As can be seen on the image in the right, the entire gate is visible in the background, while it is not in the video which is presently viral, a screenshot of which can be seen on the left.

 

Photo: Screenshots via AltNews

Right-wing users amplify misinformation

BJP UP spokesperson Shalab Mani Tripathi posted the video falsely claiming that the students were chanting slogans against Hindus while adding, “Treatment is necessary for people with such attitude and voice (-translated)”. The tweet has garnered close to 900 retweets so far. BJP member Richa Pandey Mishra tweeted the video with a similar claim.

Former Shiv Sena member Ramesh Solanki also tweeted the same video with the false claim, “हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर..Yeh aasteen ke ?hamare hi tax pe palte hai aur hamari hi कब्र khodege”. It was retweeted more than 900 times at the time of writing this article.

BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Bagga posted the same clip (left) along with another video that is viral on social media. He asserted that the students raised “a clarion call for ethnic cleansing of Hindus.”


BJP social media head Amit Malviya tweeted the same clip (left) as Bagga’s with the message, “AMU students are chanting ‘हिंदुओ की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की धरती पर”.


Many other social media users have shared the video on Twitter and Facebook with the identical false claim.

It is evident from the video that the students were raising slogans against Hindutva, not Hindus. BJP office bearers were among many social media users who falsely claimed that the chants were anti-Hindu.

This article was first published on Alt News.