Tag: nitish kumar caa

Pavan K. Varma Quits TMC as Speculation Grows Over Return to JD(U)

Varma joined TMC in November 2021. In January 2020, he was expelled from JD(U) over his open criticism of Nitish Kumar’s support for the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

New Delhi: Ten months after joining the Trinamool Congress, Pavan K. Varma announced on Twitter on August 12 that he is resigning from the party.

A former veteran of the Janata Dal (United), Varma’s exit from the party he joined in November 2021 has led to speculation that he could be rejoining the Nitish Kumar-led party.

Addressing Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister and TMC’s chief, Varma wrote, “I want to thank you for the warm welcome accorded to me, and for your affection and courtesies. I look forward to remaining in touch.”

Days ago, Kumar broke away from the National Democratic Alliance – where JD(U)’s presence was believed to have been a bone of contention between the two leaders.

In January 2020, Varma – then JD(U)’s national general secretary – was expelled from the party over his open criticism of Nitish Kumar’s support for the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

In the expulsion letter, party’s chief general secretary K.C. Tyagi had accused Varma and poll strategist Prashant Kishor of violating party discipline and its decision.

Tyagi had written in the letter then that Kumar had given more respect to Varma than he deserves. “Instead of respecting the honour he got from the party and submitting himself to it, he deluded himself into thinking that the party had no choice,” he wrote.

Varma had been an MP until July 2016.

How Nitish Kumar Remained a Politician in Firm Control of His Image

In an enviable position where the BJP cannot afford to let him go but where the RJD and Congress would both love to have him in their ranks, the Bihar chief minister has once again emerged unfazed.

Patna: Early summer’s mild sun spreads its glow. A balmy breeze wafts through the electric fountain in front of the Raj Bhavan and reaches 1 Aney Marg — the colonial era mansions that house the Bihar governor and the chief minister respectively.

In a way, Nitish Kumar ruled Bihar in relative calm — sandwiched between the blood curdling sagas in Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region in the west, where Amit Shah led the Hindutva brigade, and Bengal in the east, from where Mamata Banerjee returned the fire.

The Bihar chief minister’s political wizardry has at no other point been on fuller display. It has de-capacitated the BJP from flexing its Hindutva muscle in Bihar, calmed down an otherwise bitter RJD scion in Tejashwi Yadav and improved his trust levels with the Congress and Left.

Nitish, it must be remembered, has been battling the heaviest shadows on his socialist-secular image ever since he rejoined the NDA with the BJP under Narendra Modi-Amit Shah’s stewardship. But in what looks like a turn of fate, the Bihar chief minister seems to have, suddenly, recovered what he had lost after getting a unanimous resolution against the National Register of Citizens and the new National Population Register passed in the ongoing Budget session of the state legislature.

He did it in style.

Insiders in the RJD admitted that even at the time when the Assembly come together at 11 am on February 24, they had no clue that Nitish would move the resolution against the NRC and NPR in the House.

“We too had not guessed, at all, that he (Nitish) — running the government with us — would do something that was opposed to our party manifesto. By the time we figured out what was happening and how we should react, the game was over. We ended up voting for the resolution that went against the letter and spirit of our manifesto,” remarked a BJP leader loyal to the Modi-Shah camp.

Also read: How Nitish Kumar Made the BJP Vote for an Anti-NRC Resolution in Bihar

Even as his action’s caught the BJP napping, Nitish disarmed Tejashwi, tempering the RJD scion’s vitriol by accepting the latter’s proposal for adjournment motion against NRC and NPR and affectionately admonishing him in the House. “Your father (Lalu Prasad) has got the right to say whatever he wants to say against me. You have no such right. Chup ho jao, baith jao (Be silent, sit down),” Nitish said, reminding, in a way, that he was contemporary to Lalu and Tejaswhi should maintain decency.

Tejaswhi who was repeatedly referred to Nitish as “paltu-Ram” in the language of his father, suddenly calmed down. “Nitish ji is our guardian,” he said and profusely congratulated Nitish on his birthday, wishing him a “long and happy life.”

Nitish is suddenly in an enviable position.

Badly drubbed in the Delhi and Jharkhand elections and faced with grim battle against the fierce fighter that Mamata Banerjee is in Bengal, BJP needs Nitish more than ever, to stay in power in Bihar.

The RJD, meanwhile, has opened its door for Nitish.

“Nitish ji had won in alliance with the RJD in 2015. We will welcome him back if he comes back to the grand alliance,” said the RJD’s senior general secretary, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The Congress too wishes Nitish was with the party. The Left parties are not critical of Nitish, who significantly paved the way for Kanhaiya Kumar to carry out his Jan Gan Man Yatra in Bihar against the NRC, NPR and CAA.

Almost nine months before of the Assembly elections due in October-November in Bihar, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Nitish will stage a comeback for the fourth consecutive term. Even his diehard opponents admit that Nitish is likely to retain his position as the chief minister again.

“It doesn’t matter whether he is with the BJP or the RJD-Congress, he will become the chief minister for sure. It is upon him to decide which alliance he chooses to be in. He is acceptable wherever he wishes to go,” said Ratan Singh, owner of a printing press in Patna.

The deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi rejected all speculation about Nitish leaving or sidelining the BJP. “Take it from me: The BJP-JDU alliance is based on trust and long term plan to carry out development in Bihar. There is no confusion, whatsoever, in the DNA. Nitish is the leader of NDA in Bihar and he will continue to be so. The partners will share the seats amicably and smoothly when the time comes. The RJD which has been a symbol of anarchy for years is trying to create confusion which will never work”.

Curiously, while the RJD-Congress-Left are ready to welcome him, there is a sense of disquiet in the BJP camp.

The BJP leaders who were singing more in tune of with Amit Shah and vomiting venom against the minorities are ill at ease. They apprehend that Nitish who will be in the vanguard of the NDA campaign might sideline them. Many in the BJP fear that Nitish might prevail upon the BJP brass to not give tickets to the ‘incendiary’ elements in the party. Suddenly, the likes of Giriraj Singh and Ashwini Choubey have fallen silent for fear of inviting Nitish’s wrath.

Also read: No NRC in Bihar, But NPR to Be Updated, CM Nitish Kumar Reiterates

“Yahan Dilli wala haal nahin hai. Hum log shanti se hain. Nitish ji amanpasand neta hain. Hum log unhi ko vote dengein (Bihar is not like Delhi. We are in peace. Nitish ji is a peace loving leader. We will vote for him),” said Nasreen Khan, a young adult Muslim student shopping at a mall near Patna University at Ashok Rajpath.

A middle-aged woman, Manju Devi, accompanying Nasreen said, “Nitish ji maar-kaat mein nahin rahte hain. Mahilaon ko samman dete hain (Nitish ji does not believe in violence. He respects women)”.

The Nitish government has reserved 30% seats for women in jobs and local bodies.

Nitish’s JDU had its workers rally at the Gandhi Maidan on February 29. The local Hindi dailies and digital media focused on its size. Many of them described it as a “flop”. But they missed the larger story.

Nitish didn’t talk too much about his ally, the BJP. “The NDA is united. We will win 200 seats,” is what he said while reeling off the statistics on what his government had done in the last five years.

He said that his government had fulfilled all its electoral promises; the most important among them was supplying electric power to every home in the power-starved state. He promised water to every piece of farmland in the state. There is little reason for the people not to believe Nitish for he has, by and large, fulfilled his electoral promises and has, steadfastly, kept himself free from emotional harnessing — the mainstay of the BJP — and also the demagoguery in which the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi indulges in, off and on.

Moreover, it was the JDU’s workers meeting in which only the dedicated party workers were supposed to be present. It was not a mass rally of common people.

Political pundits have not been talking much about the result of the assembly elections in Bihar. They talk more about what Nitish will do in the next four or five years.

Will he once again take up the challenge to replace Narendra Modi? Will he once again work to unite the opposition against the BJP? Such questions are doing the rounds in Bihar’s political and social circles.

Watch out for Nitish Kumar, for his left hand doesn’t yet have an inkling of what his right hand can do.

Nalin Verma is a senior journalist and author of Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey and The Greatest Folk Tales of Bihar.

No NRC in Bihar, But NPR to Be Updated, CM Nitish Kumar Reiterates

Nitish had asked the Centre to drop new columns in NPR forms which deals with parents’ places of birth and Aadhaar.

Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar reiterated on Sunday that the National Register for Citizens would not be implemented in Bihar and only the National Population Register would be updated the way it was done in 2010.

The Janata Dal (United) president had in December already made its stand clear that the NRC would not be implemented in the state, though the party supported the Centre’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

“NRC is not going to be implemented here (in Bihar) and only NPR will be carried out the way it was done in the year 2010. It will be done on the basis of that only,” Nitish said in an official release.

Also read: Decoding Nitish Kumar’s Curious Stand on NRC-CAA

He said this while addressing a function at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University at Chandanpatti in Hayaghat block of Darbhanga district, where he laid foundation stones for several schemes worth Rs 80 crore pertaining to the minority welfare department.

Nitish laid stones for a 100-bed hostel at Biraul in Darbhanga, 100-bed hostel each for girl and boy for the university students, G plus three multi-storeyed building at waqf land and 560-capacity intake minority residential school, the release said.

Nitish had asked the Centre to drop new columns in NPR forms like parents’ places of birth and Aadhaar, saying they were “not necessary” and might lead to apprehensions.

Why Nitish Kumar’s Measured Distance From BJP Holds Value in These Times

Even while sharing the dais with BJP brass, Nitish has never joined the party in delegitimising the nationwide protests against CAA, NRC and NPR.

Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is currently at the centre of a storm, battling allegations that he has compromised on his socialist and secular ideology to maintain the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Delhi Assembly polls, or his ambivalence on the Citizenship Amendment Act. 

While this may largely be the opinion of analysts who observe the Centre rather closely, those in Bihar, however, can’t discount the particular political quandary Kumar currently faces.  

After his expulsion from the Janata Dal (United) in the wake of sending a letter in which he revealed Nitish’s “apprehension” about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP in a “private conversation” on “more than one occasion” to him, the former diplomat and author, Pavan K. Varma has since sharpened his critique of Nitish’s “ideological drift”. 

However, Nitish as a person and Nitish as a key operator in concurrent power politics remain valid subjects for closer examination. 

Those who know Nitish for quite some time know it well that the brand of socialism as propounded by Ram Manohar Lohia and secularism as enshrined in the Indian constitution have a distinct place in Nitish’s heart.

Varma didn’t actually make any staggering revelations when he said that Nitish had expressed “apprehension” about the RSS-BJP in private conversations. 

Nitish might well have shared his personal opinion on Hindutva with many other personal acquaintances. Otherwise a reserved person, known for his economy of words, Nitish has the proclivity to talk his heart out in private conversations. 

It thus perhaps didn’t bother Nitish at all when Varma – even while he was the JD(U)’s general secretary – attacked the RSS-BJP’s insidiously divisive Hindutva agenda. What stung Nitish was Varma’s “revelation” of the content that Nitish, purportedly, shared in private conversation.

The point to be noticed here is Nitish didn’t deny the “revealed content”. He simply said, “I can never reveal what Varma has told to me in private conversation. Private conversations are not brought in the public realm”.

It is a fact that Nitish Kumar had given a call for “Sangh mukt Bharat” when he was with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress. It is also a fact that he had stated that he would prefer to be broken into smithereens rather than return to BJP. He has strongly questioned Narendra Modi on the issue of secularism and the idea of India.

Nitish and Modi. Photo: PTI

If one carefully decodes the journey of Nitish’s speeches and statements, one will find very easily that Nitish has never given a clean chit to Narendra Modi despite sharing the dais with him on several occasions. He is seldom in tune with the BJP, despite returning to the NDA in 2017. 

Nitish is a rare politician who has effectively mastered the art of keeping his person and his politics separate.  

When he broke out from the NDA, he had doggedly attempted to unite the opposition to the extent that he was the strongest votary of the six old Janata Parivar factions merger. It’s not out of the way to think that Nitish, who had staged a comeback as the Bihar chief minister after defeating the resurgent BJP in 2015, might have harboured the ambition to emerge a rallying point of opposition unity against the BJP. 

Somehow, his efforts didn’t work and he returned to the NDA despite all his “reservations” and “apprehensions”. But now, he is faced with the challenge to retain his position as the chief minister of Bihar while also retaining his supremacy against the BJP, his ally in the state. 

Nitish must wage wars on two fronts at a time — against his ideological adversary and political ally, BJP, and against the political opponents and ideological mates that the RJD-Congress are to him.

Even in such a situation, Nitish has rejected the NRC, has asked the prime minister to drop the six new questions in the NPR and has left it to the Supreme Court decide on the CAA’s constitutional validity despite supporting it in the parliament.

Also read: Decoding Nitish Kumar’s Curious Stand on NRC-CAA

He has never joined the BJP in delegitimising the nationwide protests going on against CAA, NRC and NPR. Rather, he admonished his administration for detaining CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar near Gandhi Ashram at Bhittiharwa in Bihar’s West Champaran district and said, “The people have the right to protest”.

He shared the dais with Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on February 2 to campaign for a party candidate contesting on a solitary seat in alliance with the BJP. He showcased his government’s achievements in Bihar and attacked Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, as a political rival should do. But he neither joined in with BJP leaders’ tirade that Arvind Kejriwal was a “terrorist” or “anti-national”. Nor did he speak against Shaheen Bagh. 

In his latest interview to The Wire, the eminent academic and profound political thinker Pratap Bhanu Mehta said to Karan Thapar, “It is not important who replaces Narendra Modi as next PM. What is important is how Indian society reeling under repeated shocks from majoritarian dispensation will be rebuilt and resurrected by whosoever replaces Modi as the PM”.

If Mehta’s observations are seen in the context of Bihar, Nitish’s successor will not inherit as pulverised or broken a Bihar as Adityanath’s successor will, in Uttar Pradesh.

There are few instances of communal disharmony and police excesses on protesters in Bihar and even the BJP leaders — despite their alliance with Nitish — don’t have the temerity to hoodwink Muslims or question their patriotism in the state.

Nalin Verma is a senior journalist and co-author of the book Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey, Lalu Prasad’s autobiography.

‘Free to Join Any Party He Likes’: Nitish Kumar Hits Out at Pavan Varma

Varma has recently been critical of Nitish’s stance on the CAA. He also did not favour JD(U) decision to tie up with BJP for the Delhi polls.

New Delhi: Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar minced no words while hitting out at his colleague and senior party leader Pavan Varma, who has criticised the party’s move to support the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. 

On Thursday, when asked about Varma questioning the logic behind JD(U) allying with the BJP even in Delhi for the upcoming assembly elections, Kumar said, “He is free to go and join any party he likes, my best wishes.”

“Our stand is clear, no confusion. If anyone has any issues, then the person can discuss it within party or at party meetings, but to give such public statements is surprising. Is this a way to talk?” he added. 

Known for his short but clear statements, Kumar, who leads the JD(U)-BJP coalition government in Bihar, clearly indicated that he will brook no such public criticisms of the party, from within the party, anymore. 

Apart from Varma, party’s vice-president Prashant Kishore and many senior leaders of the party, including another national general secretary Gulam Rasool Balyawi had also expressed their discomfort against Kumar’s decision to support the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Parliament, which they feel has to be seen in conjunction with the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

According to these leaders, Kumar has assured them that he will not allow NRC to be implemented in Bihar. However, Varma came out publicly to question JD(U)’s alliance with the saffron party in Delhi, especially at a time when protests over CAA-NRC has only been growing across the country, including in Bihar. 

Varma, a former Rajya Sabha MP and party’s national general secretary, had tweeted a letter to Nitish Kumar two days ago to express his anguish and anxiety over the alliance. He spoke about a conversation in which Kumar had expressed “grave apprehensions” about the BJP and its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He had asked the party chief to “harmonise” the party’s private and public positions. 


“On more than one occasion, you have expressed your grave apprehensions about the BJP-RSS combine. If these are your real views, I fail to understand how the JDU is now extending its alliance with the BJP beyond Bihar, when even long standing allies of the BJP, like the Akali Dal, have refused to do so. This is especially so at a time when the BJP, through the CAA-NPR-NRC combine, has embarked on a massive social divisive agenda aimed at mutilating the peace, harmony and stability of the country,” Varma wrote.

He also spoke of his first meeting with Kumar in 2012 where he spoke “at length and with conviction on why Narendra Modi and his policies are inimical for the country.” He also reminded Kumar of his election call for an “RSS-mukt Bharat (RSS-free India)”. 

He also said that when Kumar revived his alliance with BJP in 2017 after dumping Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress, with which he had contested the assembly elections together, the BJP leadership had subjected him to humiliation. 

Also read: Decoding Nitish Kumar’s Curious Stand on NRC-CAA

In the last few months, however, Kumar has hinted at the possibility of JD(U) joining the Union government. The party has already become a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. His adamant stance on CAA indicates that his word on the issue may be the final one in the party. 

Responding to him, Varma said, “(Leaving) is an option that everyone has and I know it. It was never my intention to hurt him.” He added that he welcomed Kumar’s rebuke as his statement hints at the further possibility of a discussion within the party. 

Varma’s objections to CAA-NRC

Speaking to The Wire in December, Varma said that his position in JD(U) was “irrevocably untenable” after he publicly criticised his party’s support to CAB in the parliament. And that he “would like to devote the next few years” and all his “political energy to create a sane and credible alternative in this country at the political level.”

“This country needs choice which is congruent with what the country’s good is. I will work towards that end,” he had asserted. 

“The party can remove me or I can remove myself from the party,” he had said.  

“Yes, we are in an alliance with the BJP in Bihar. Yes, the government in Bihar is a coalition. Yes, perhaps the BJP and the JD(U) need each other to fight the elections next year when the assembly elections are due. But at the same time, the JD(U), and specially Mr. Nitish Kumar has been a leader who on specific issues, even while in an alliance with the BJP, has taken a strong position of differing, of saying that we are allies but we don’t agree.” 

He had gone on to speak about JD(U)’s objection to “the manner in which Article 370 was rammed through in the parliament.”

“There are issues on which we protest. Particularly, for instance, when there are overt communal voices in the BJP, we come out against them,” he had said.

He had also said that he was deeply anguished by the fact that Kumar, despite his private objections to CAA and NRC, had gone ahead to support the CAB in Rajya Sabha. He felt that JD (U) preferred political expediency and “possible political dividend to the far more fundamental pursuit of ideological chastity.”

“To my mind that is unacceptable. It is against our party constitution. In the very first page of our constitution, the word secular occurs three times. Nitish Kumar himself has always stood multiple times against attempts to divide the society on the basis of dharm and majhab and religion,” he had said, adding that even in the case of CAB, Kumar has made his concerns about CAB public. 

“Nitish Kumar was very sensitive to the concerns in the northeast (against CAB), for that (northeastern) identity to be preserved, and not to be swamped,” he said. 

“What happened to all of that? The northeast is in flames. My point is if you are willing to jettison ideology on the altar of political expediency, somewhere you are on the wrong track,” he had said, adding that there seemed to be “a lack of ideological clarity” in his party. 

Slogans of Shaheen Bagh Echo at Patna’s Sabzibagh

‘Like the bagh in Delhi which has seen anti-CAA protests, this bagh is also witnessing flowers bloom.’

Patna: Taking a cue from the ongoing, month-long protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, a group of women in Patna’s Sabzibagh have started a sit-in demonstration in the market area of what is a very congested locality.

The protest started on January 12, and has seen a huge turnout of people of all ages, braving the cold round the clock. “We’ve all heard a lot about Shaheen Bagh. This is Sabzibagh. Like the bagh (garden) in Delhi which has seen anti-CAA protests, this bagh is also witnessing flowers bloom,” says Akansha, a Patna University student and one of the organisers of the protest.

Away from the glare of cameras, the main road and the adjoining streets resonate with the now-familiar slogans of “hum kaaghaz nahi dikhayenge”. Tricolours dot the protest site. Shopkeepers and street sellers cooperate, and discipline and civic responsibilities are safeguarded as dedicated volunteers ensure smooth passage of ambulances and other vehicles. The entire area goes silent at the sound of the Azaan. “We are adhering to the guidelines laid out by the district administration. There were nearly 500 protestors when we started, and in a day’s time the number has doubled. The numbing cold cannot weaken our resolve to sit-in until the government revokes the Act,” says Rizwan, one of the organisers at the location.

Also read: Sikh Chants at Shaheen Bagh Drive Home Message that It’s a Protest Without Religion

The evening of Tuesday, January 14, saw Kanhaiya Kumar make an appearance, drawing in massive crowds that went on to fill in all the narrow lanes coming up to the main street where the protest site is located. Kumar emphasised and lauded the pioneering role of women in these protests. “The fire started by the women of Shaheen Bagh is no longer limited to Delhi, but is spread all over India. We are all together in this struggle to protect this country, its constitution,” he said. He then added, “Our message to this government is: it is the constitution that has given you the power. If you do not accept the constitution, we do not accept you as the government. There is still time to mend your ways.”

Kanhaiya Kumar at the Sabzibagh protest. Photo: Moniza Hafizee

Reiterating the pluralistic nature of this movement, he said, “This is a fight to protect the constitution that grants us rights irrespective of religion, caste or creed. This is a fight to protect those rights.” He signed off by drawing parallels between the BJP government and the colonial British, “If you are bent on acting like the British, we are prepared to be Ashfaqullah Khan and Ramprasad Bismil.”

Like Shaheen Bagh, a makeshift tent has been put up, where women sit in turns, making sure not to leave the protest site entirely vacant at any point in time. The organisers insist on keeping this citizen-led movement apolitical.

The women exude both confidence and fury. “What they did to our children in Jamia is intolerable. The tea-seller has brought us all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, on the streets. They have attacked our children in the campus. I too am a mother. Will he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) give his eye to the child who lost his, or give his leg to child whose leg was broken? We will fight, and we will snatch our rights,” says Mehrunissa, a resident of Sabzibagh.

Protesters at Patna’s Sabzibagh. Photo: Screengrab from video by Moniza Hafizee

“The money that will be spent in the process of creating a countrywide NRC is ours. We will not let this happen” Nusrat Ara adds.

One of the protesters is a frail old woman who arrives alone, with a broken leg, and no warm clothes. Quresha Begum, however, is firm when she says, “In our times, things were not documented. I don’t know my age.”

Her understanding of the issues she’s protesting against remain perfectly clear. On being asked what brought her out to the site, she says, “I have come here to protest against the government’s divisive policy. I am very old and my days are numbered. But this fight, I am doing this for the younger generation who have all their lives ahead of them.”

While the local women sit in the protest, students take over the stage with fiery speeches, poems and slogans. Himanshu Kumar, who has come to Patna from Pashchim Champaran for an exam, decides to join the protest, instead of heading back home, to “lend his voice to the cause”.

“This government deliberately creates a divide in the community to distract from the real issues like employment and education,” he says.

Also read: The Brave Women of Shaheen Bagh

Akansha, along with other students from Patna University has been actively taking part in the protests in different parts of the city. “This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. People from different faiths are protesting here in a peaceful manner. This is a fight to save our Constitution. We will not let the government ruin the lives of people like it did during the Demonetisation and GST,” she says.

“The movement in Patna, and rest of Bihar, also questions Nitish government’s dubious stance on the issue. A similar dharna has started in the Phulwari area of Patna, where, too, women have taken the lead after the police resorted to violence on peaceful protestors. Our demand is also for Nitish Kumar to declare that NPR will not be executed in Bihar,” she adds.

Congress MLA and former JNUSU president Shakeel Ahmad Khan is also in attendance. He says, “If they want to shun peaceful protests through violence, people at large are not going to tolerate it. When a tyrant tries to bulldoze the peaceful harmony and the coexistence of the people, then the people have no other option but to protest. It comes as a responsibility for everyone, the elected and the common folk, to condemn the act of violence on students and protestors. We know their (BJP and RSS’s) history. This January 30, the nation should remember that they killed Mahatma Gandhi.”

The organisers plan to celebrate Makar Sankranti on January 15, to send out a message of brotherhood and religious pluralism that has been an important part of the nation’s social fabric.