(This is a guest blog by my daughter Namrata)
Hi, my name is Namrata. I am 16 years old and I am studying in 11th standard. I have been homeschooled for the greater part of my life, and I recently joined Sharada Mandir school in Goa, in order to finish 11th and 12th. I attended the protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on the 20th of July in solidarity with the Indian students and youth. as they attempted to march to Parliament,
A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFO:
In response, Abhijeet Dipke, a graduate of Boston University, sent out an online form calling youth to join the Cockroach Janata party. This was a joke as well as a satirical dig at the government.
To everybody's surprise, 22 million Indians signed up.
Two weeks later, on June 5th the NEET examinations were held. 22 lakh students wrote this exam at the cost of their sleep, money (many families go into debt to try and put their children through these exams) and extremely high stress levels (regular failures of our education system), only to be told a few days later that all their efforts were in vain. The paper had leaked and every student was going to pay the price for a mistake the government of India could have easily prevented and write the exam again.
17 students committed suicide as a result of their incompetence.
The CJP announced that they would take up this issue on behalf of the students of India, and demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister. They decided to occupy Jantar Mantar as their protest site, and Abhijeet Dipke flew back to India to lead the protest.
By 8th of July, the protest had spread across India. The CJP used social media effectively, and Dipke and his team toured certain states. Simultaneously, Rahul Gandhi started the Chhatron ki Goonj campaign in other states. The protests returned to Delhi and thousands of people started to arrive at Jantar Mantar, and the demand for Dhamendra Pradhan’s resignation began to get louder.
Attending the protest:
In faraway Goa, I had been following the news every day. When I heard that Sonam Wangchuck had been carried away to the hospital that morning by police force, in an attempt to try to force him to end his indefinite hunger strike, and that he had called for young people to join the movement on July 20th and to march together to Parliament, I began to really want to join them in Delhi. Some time ago, I had started earning a little money as a cat sitter, and I had been saving the money. I began to talk to my parents about allowing me to fly to Delhi to take part in these protests and march with the students to Parliament. It was not easy to convince them. They were concerned about my safety and tried to persuade me that this was not worth the risk and effort. They wanted me to assure them that I would not miss any projects or exams in school. I told them that I would pay for my own tickets. Finally, they agreed. As my dada put it, what was the point of homeschooling me and teaching me to care about the country and the issues facing us today, and then refusing to allow me to stand up and be counted during times of need?
At 11 o'clock on Saturday night, 18th July, we called my aunt and I asked if I could attend the protest with her and my cousins. My dad booked the flight tickets and I paid for them. I flew to Delhi on 19th early morning.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I joined the protesting crowds at Jantar Mantar at around 6:30 am on the 20th of June in time for the CJP's March to Parliament, well before the barricades were closed.
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| Yuval, Jehan and me at Jantar Mantar |
The day was gloomy but the atmosphere at the protest was electrifying.
While walking around the protest site I saw that tents had been set up. Water tankers had brought drinking water, and food was supplied. As we got closer to the tents there was a sense of hope that was building up inside of me.
Various youth organisations such as the All India Youth Federation and the Indian youth Communist Party along with many students from various colleges have camped out there. Each is under their own banner, however each is united against a common person in this nationwide crisis. It was truly a vibrant atmosphere and I immediately regretted not visiting earlier. They had brought instruments such as the drums, tambourine and simple dishes which they banged with joyful enthusiasm
At the same time, living conditions in Jantar Mantar are not easy. The site was relatively clean, and a huge sheet had been placed before the stage with the tents on the right side and the various students associations on the left. It started raining at around 7:00 am and people were using plastic sheets to try to cover themselves as they sat there.
Some people were asleep and some had started their slogans
Many students such as Neha Bore who had been fasting for 20 days were planning on breaking it today on condition that the MPs visit them to start negotiating. As we passed by the tents, we could see that even though these students have been there for many days they were so calm and collected. Human chains had been formed around the fasting students in order to protect them from the police and there was a sense of much anticipation and peace.
THE YOUTH HAVE GOOD IDEALS
One thing I immediately noticed was the respect and courtesy extended to women. People were obviously taking trouble to make women feel comfortable as they started to sleep and live at the site. As I passed the tents, I could see that the women were sleeping in mosquito nets and the men sleeping out of them. Near the stage many young men had created a path by standing opposite each other so that women and children could pass safely through to reach the stage.
Of course, my cousins and I took advantage of this! I was interested in going up close to the groups of students to watch them chant and sing. As we got closer, my cousin would simply tap a person in the way, point towards me or his mom and they would immediately give us space! Women and men were leading the slogans with so much rhythm and energy. Slogans would start as one person would yell out the first half and every one would yell out the rest. This was happening in multiple places.
WALK! AS FAR AS YOU CAN.....
We had reached early so we decided to explore the area and we walked away from the stage till we reached a barricade about 100 meters away from it. Standing there were around 20 RAF officers, with water cannons and police buses. I do not agree when people say that the PM has not responded or taken any form of accountability. He definitely has, in the form of enacting section 163, using water cannons, tear gas, and the entire Delhi police force with lathis, as well as the RAF ( rapid action force) who had gas bombs strapped to them. That is how he decided to deal with the accountability demanded from him. This is his response to the youth and to our nation.
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| Ready to fire on his people.. |
We stayed at the barricades because by 9am the crowd had tripled. I think there were more than 5,000 people standing within the same 100 meters of road where I was standing.
Many students had books and the constitution in their hand, many had posters of Ambedkar along with other slogans demanding accountability.
The energy was building. We realised the wifi and networks had been cut. The barricades were soon to go down.
ANYONE CAN COME:
Before I went for the protest I would watch reels from the protests online, and to an extent i would always think that the people who attended the protests were these tough student activists, poorer people and people who 'were just into that sort of thing'. I never realised how personal it was until I witnessed the type of people who actually came there.
As the crowd started building up it became more and more diverse. While sitting on the overturned barricades to rest, as the rain continued to drizzle down on everyone, i started noticing the young women, a 6th standard child sitting with her mom on the barricade with me, old men dressed in white kurtas, sturdy looking grandmothers as well as mothers holding on tightly to their daughters hands as they pushed through, students from various private and government colleges holding banners of the constitution as they walked along, members from the LGBTQ society, and people who had flown or come by train from other states around India, in order to protest against a system that had failed them together with their friends, their children, and their grandchildren. Every part of society was involved in this protest which was inevitably going to end in police violence.
Every age group was involved. This was not just a protest for students or certain types of people alone. The youngest of students and the most tired grandparents walked along quietly in the hope of creating a better future for India and this was truly the loudest action of the protest for me.
SLOGANS
DHAMENDRA PRADHAN FEEL SHAME!
One of the most common slogans I heard at the protest was "Dharmendra Pradhan sharm karo (sharm karo, sharm karo), Sharm nahi toh doob maro (doob maro, doob maro). (Translation: Dharmendra Pradhan feel shame, feel shame. If you cannot feel shame, then go and drown yourself!)
To have 22 million people chant that in their own ways shows just how disgusting and pathetic our system has become under this man who is responsible for the death of these 17 students.
Dhamendra Pradhan did not comment at all.
But the PM decided to copy a valuable trait of Gen Z and stand in solidarity with his good friend. He wished him a very happy birthday and congratulated him on his successful administration of the education system. This was also clearly to taunt the youth. He did not visit the families of the children who committed suicide, nor did he did not offer condolences to their families. He instead decides to wish the education minister on his birthday and congratulate him on a job well done.
Everyone knows PM Modi is compromised on an international level, and about the deals he signs after Donald Trump tells him. The killing of 3 Indian soldiers by the USA (which he does nothing about) demonstrates this.
The PM's total disregard for Indians, however, is even more clearly demonstrated through his birthday wishes for a man responsible for the death of 17 students.
How is such a man our prime minister?
Another slogan that is stuck in my mind was
Slogans starter - मोदी जब जब डरता हैं,
Audience - पुलिस को आगे करता है।
The protesters would go and stand right in front of the police and start chanting this. I looked up at the police at one point and wondered how they felt knowing that they were nothing more than private corrupted goons and that they have utterly failed the people of India.
LOCK THEM IN AND LOCK THEM OUT! SPEND YOUR CABINET MEETINGS CHOOSING ROUTES
By 9:30 we could hear banging on the other side of the barricade, and I could see more then 500 people standing there. They were locked out by barricades set up at almost every entry point and we couldn't get out because the police had started welding the barriers shut. These barriers aren't some small roadblock. I kid you not, they were huge and extremely heavy. Around this time, a whole group of people had surged towards the barricade to knock it down. However, one lady reminded them that maintaining peace was absolutely essential, and that the protest would be in vain if they resorted to any violence, and immediately they started sitting down on the ground and quietly chanting. These youth were not violent at all. With the numbers they had, they could have easily ignored the lady and over powered the police, but they did not. They were angry and had every right to be, however they did not riot. They were not there to disrupt the peace, they simply wanted to be heard.
THE ART OF RAGE BAITING
An aspect of this part of the protest that i found hilarious was that every time the police started talking over their megaphone everyone would shout out, and some would do these funny little yoddeling noises. Some would whistle and others yells, some bang plates and other play instruments ( the plate banging also happened to be Modi's educated guess on how to deal with Covid, bro evidently does not care about the education system because he has not been through it).
This was truly ragebaiting at its finest.
Eventually an ambulance came and I think it took Neha (one of the fasting students to the hospital. Perhaps by this time, she would have broken her fast)
The crowd kept building, and eventually the confinement got too much and before I realised what was happening, the barricades were being torn down and people were stampeding backwards in order to not get hurt or trampled by the crowd on the other side.
Everyone started walking through the barricades to tons of cheers and whoops.
I managed to get onto one of the barricades that had partly fallen over but was high enough to provide a good view. I sat there for a good half an hour, opposite me most of the barricades had fallen and people were drumming and chanting and showing their signboards from there.
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| Standing atop a barricade |
As I sat there I really noticed the crowd.
We were seated at a cross roads essentially, with one road leading to Connaught Place, another from somewhere else, and one leading back to Jantar Mantar. We could see that some of the cannons were parked there. Every single road was jam packed.
Eventually the RAF started beating people with their lathis. I could see them myself, ruthlessly beating people away from certain barricades. It must have only been 10 or 10:30 in the morning.
THE LATHI-ING
I was getting more and more excited as well as scared by this time. The WIFI and networks had been turned off by the government in the area, and if I had gotten separated from my aunt and cousins it was very unlikely I would be able to find them again. Back home, my parents were watching the videos of the lathi-charges, they later told me, but their phone calls were not going through to me.
The water cannons were also right in front of me, however I still could not bring myself to believe that the police would actually use them or the tear gas cannons or even lathi people to that extent. I still believed in the police. All the videos online were just videos until then. I still had a certain amount of faith in the police and, honestly, I realise now that this itself is a proof of my privileged status in India. It requires a person to have a high enough caste, to speak English, to be educated and to have money. Which is, literally, to be in the top 5% of the country to have faith in the police and believe that they will help. Anyway I believed in them to the extent that it kept me thinking, There’s no way they would do this, no way that they would use violence on children, that's just so inhumane. My cousins were just trying to frighten me, it's impossible, they would not beat these students for protesting, they wouldn't fire at citizens walking peacefully, that would definitely go against their sense of morals and ethics, they couldn't possibly bring themselves to do this, etc. I was so severely disillusioned, after the crowd broke down the barricades and I managed to climb one and got a good view, and I saw the police and RAF lathi-ing people. They would raise their sticks and bring it smashing down on anyone close by. I felt like sitting down and sobbing. This was one of the hardest, most crushing things I have ever witnessed. Every faint stereotypical notion I had that a person could approach the police for help ended right there, sitting on top of that barricade.
BEAT THEM BUT LEAVE YOUR IDENTIFICATION AT HOME SO MODI KNOWS YOU’RE SAFE!
Eventually people started moving forward again, and we decided to join them.
The tricky part is as soon as a person leaves Jantar Mantar, they are in violation of section 136 (that no more than 5 people can meet in place) that had been put into action the previous night.
We realized that if we left, we could just be arrested and put into the police buses, and sent off, and so we moved when everyone was moving. We didn't get far when we hit another barricade that was also being blocked by the police buses. The weird thing was that people were being allowed to go through this closed barricade that was being manned closely by the RAF who were standing there along with their tear gas grenades and multiple shooter trucks.
Eventually we found out why….. people would go through and then they would shut the barricade for everyone else and beat up the people inside. The were strategically trying to decrease the masses by separating them and beating them up.
There was no way to leave safely, forget getting to parliament.
At around 12 o'clock I tried to walk a little, and by this time the RAF were climbing into their trucks and positioning the tear gas cannons. There were two sets of cannons per truck, each capable of firing 5 grenades at a time. These shooters were now being carefully aimed at the crowds.
I came back and sat down to rest with my aunt. My cousin, after harassing his mom by continuous pleading, was finally granted permission to cross the barricade with a bunch of people just to see what was happened and whether these people were actually getting to parliament somehow. (the dear fellow is a nimble guy and we still didn't know that RAF were lathi-ing people further down the road once they had crossed the barricade and buses)
When he returned he told me that basically he had gone forward and seen the divisions that had been created and saw the lathi-ing, and so he and a bunch of men started pushing though a mesh fence in order to open a way for people to escape out of the lathi zone. As soon as they did this, a stampede of people ran out.
Where I was sitting, I started seeing people on stretchers with their legs bandaged being carried out from within that barricade.
The police and RAF just let everyone think that they are winning somehow, but everything was carefully planned and orchestrated. No barricade is broken down that they are not okay with, and no one crosses the barricade unless they have some other plan as to what to do with them. The RAF are a mindless, robot organisation of the government. There is no aspect of humanity about them, they stand next to their own citizens without looking anyone in the eye as their own children suffer from the failure of the systems that their leaders have created and the only thing they choose to do is beat and gas and harm young people trying to desperately ask for a solution.
Eventually we managed to make our way out and leave. We walked to Connaught place where another barricade was being maintained, however people were using the foot path to enter into the protest and leave. Lots of protesters had assembled outside of the barricade and had started to block the traffic.
We left and walked for a long time trying to find an auto, however no one knew how to go anywhere because of all the road blocks and so we finally decided to walk to the metro station,. However most of the metros had been shut down due to the protest, and we ended sitting on the metro station floor as my cousin tried to buy tickets. In the end we found an auto guy who took an hour long detour just to get us home so that I could catch my flight back to Goa.
After getting back into the range of WIFI I saw the reels of the tear gas grenades getting launched.
Later on the way home in the flight, I met a person (whose name I didn't even ask, actually, thinking about it now!) but we started talking and this person asked me if I lived in Goa and I said that I had come to Delhi for a day just to attend the protest. It turned out that this person had actually come to Goa from Mumbai for a holiday, heard about the protest in Delhi and had left the friends in Goa, and flown to Delhi to join the protest!
I am not a victim of the system.
I was not physically harmed by the RAF or police.
My family sent me confident that even if we got detained by the police, my aunt who is a lawyer could have me out and in the airport by 7 o'clock to catch my flight home.
That was not the case for so many of the students attending it and that is why it is important to stand with them.
There is a song from the movie La Miserables called “Do you hear the people sing?”
I think the people are singing and the government hears it and fears them, and so they use violence.
On Monday, for the first time in my life, I heard the sound of the singing, and decided to join with the ones singing. Many of my school and church friends did as well by joining the protest in Goa.
This is no joke. It is shattering, brutal and disillusioning, but the song reminds me that 'There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes' and it's up to us to make that life a better one because our government has absolutely no intention of making this happen.
DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes
[COMBEFERRE]
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
[COURFEYRAC]
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!
[ENSEMBLE]
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a pеople
Who will not be slaves again.
Whеn the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
[FEUILLY]
Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance?
Some will fall and some will live
Will you stand up and take your chance?
The blood of the martyrs
Will water the meadows of (France)!
[ENSEMBLE]
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
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