News Article - Jamia Millia Islamia

 Ground Report - Jamia Millia Islamia Protest 

A Ground Report on Jamia Millia Islamia Protest

What was the Jamia Millia Islamia Protest? (Background) 

-By Zeeshan Akhtar 

On December 23, 2019, students of Jamia Millia Islamia University undertook a march to the Parliament protesting against Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. As the students marched towards the Parliament police stopped the march and both the students and police confronted each other and clashes broke out. There are two narratives of this incident, the first narrative is of the Jamia students who claim that the Delhi police used force and attacked the peaceful protestors with stones and batons, due to which a lot of students got injured and in retaliation students pelted stones. On the other side Delhi police has its own narrative where they say that after they stopped the students from marching to the parliament, the students attacked policemen with stones, hence the police retaliated to control the situation by firing tear gas shells and baton charge. 

Similarly on December 15th, students of Jamia Millia University were protesting outside the campus when the police suddenly attacked the students and entered the Jamia Campus without any permission and used force against the protesters to curb down the situation. The police also entered the Jamia Library where many students who were apparently studying were attacked and beaten. A lot of students were saved by fellow college mates but hundreds were injured in the brawl. The police used tear gas and batons to disrupt the protestors and also entered the campus library and washrooms. The media outside Jamia were live telecasting the actions taken by the police and footage of students getting beaten up and being dragged outside the campus were witnessed by the people of India on live TV.

After this the students of Jamia Millia Islamia university organized a protest that went on for days and had some similarity with Shaheen Bagh Protest. A lot of social activists reached to the Jamia University where people were protesting on the road just in front of the University main gate. 

Ground Report from the Jamia Millia University Protest 

After visiting the Shaheen Bagh protest opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, me and my friend decided to visit the Jamia Millia Islamia protest too. On 24th January 2020, we went to the Jamia University to witness the protest. After reaching the place we saw hundreds of people sitting on the road side with posters in their hands protesting against the police brutality and CAA. The protest was organized by the Jamia students and a lot of people came in to show their support for the incidents that took place in the University in December. As we moved ahead to the main gate where a large group of people mostly women were sitting on the road and were listening to various speakers addressing them, we witnessed people standing in costumes inspired by different freedom fighters who sacrificed their life for the freedom of this country. 

On the footpath outside the University gate a group of students were sitting and making posters that were being pasted on the wall and were tied to a rope for people to read, we saw a few girls writing posters in Urdu and Hindi. I was capturing these posters and people who were standing in groups holding posters that they brought to highlight to pass a message to the people visiting. These posters had messages from some celebrities in the film industry who addressed the issue on social media supporting these protests such as Mr. Javed Akhtar and politicians like Mr. Chandrashekar Ravan. 

The protest at Jamia Millia Islamia University was not just about a bunch of people sitting and ranting about the government in power, but it had a very unique way of criticizing the actions taken by the police and the policies passed by the BJP. The walls of Jamia campus were filled with beautiful and creative paintings made by students with messages that talked about uniting India against hate and messages that preached love and compassion. The protest was filled people from different faiths and groups, all united together. As I mentioned, the protest shared a lot of similarities with the Shaheen Bagh protest. Some of the most amazing and creative wall paintings or graffiti's were: 

Many social activists and students were addressing the people that have gathered around the main gate of the University. On the day we got a chance to capture a very young child who addressed the public, sang a song and spoke shayari's for the protestors. Here is a glimpse of young child: 

The only common ground that I realized after visiting Jamia Millia Islamia University was that people and students were speaking out, raising their voices against the brutality they faced in December. Everywhere you looked, you could only see the Indian Flag flying high in the hands of young kids, old men and women. The right to protest and dissent is provided to every Indian citizen by the Constitution of this country, and practicing that right with full energy and compassion makes one a true citizen. There was a sense of freedom and love in the air in Jamia, people were not fearful and afraid of anyone. People are protesting and will protest in the future as well to raise their voices against the one's who are in power.