BHOPAL: President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), Aishe Ghosh addressed an impressive gathering at Iqbal Maidan here on Thursday.
She said, “People are in thick of a battle for protecting the idea of India and the country’s constitution.”
Targeting Union government on CAA and NRC she said, “They are clones of Hitler and they are trying to replicate the British policy of divide and rule in today’s India.”
She asserted,“ But we will not allow them to succeed. They won’t be able to terrorise us into submission. They will have to bow down before the collective resolve of people,” she declared amid roaring cheers of the gathering.
‘Gandhi tere desh mein: Nagrikta par sawal kyon?’
Iqbal Maidan is witnessing Shaheen Bagh-like protest against CAA-NRC-NPR. The day’s event was centred on the theme ‘Gandhi tere desh mein: Nagrikta par sawal kyon?’
The gathering was addressed by over 30 speakers, including Medha Patkar.
Anil Sadgopal, Medha Patkar, Archbishop Leo Cornelio, Kumar Ambuj and Sandhya Shaili chaired the meeting. Activists from IPTA presented songs at the event, which was conducted by Asha Mishra and Satyam Pande.
Besides, a two-minute silence was observed by the gathering. Before that, Sachin Shrivastava recited Kedarnath Singh’s poem ‘Do Minute Ka Maun’.
At the outset, Vijay Kumar, a member of the coordination committee for opposing CAA-NRC-NPR in Madhya Pradesh said that soon every district in the state would have a Shaheen Bagh.
Aishe warned that unless Modi-Shah duo is stopped, India may witness a Holocaust. She asked, “BJP had always been claiming that it wanted to liberate Muslim women and that is why they have criminalised triple talaq. “Then, why they so perturbed when Muslim women are marching on the streets demanding ‘azadi’.”
India witnessing battle between ideologies of Gandhi & Godse
Senior journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani asked whether the person who shot at a Jamia student in Delhi on Thursday did not fall under the definition of a terrorist. She said that the government was trying to whip up hatred against a particular community. A Union minister called for shooting the protesters while Amit Shah urged the voters to press the button of the EVMs with such angst that protestors in Shaheen Bagh get an electric shock.
She said that today India was witnessing a battle between the ideologies of Gandhi and Godse. “We can see hope, courage and strength but no fear among the people. The dictator fears people who are not afraid of him,” she said.
‘Govt has confined Gandhi to currency notes & sanitation’ Mohammed Zakir Riyaz from Jamia Millia Islamia University said the battle against the CAA-NRC would be completely non-violent. “Ours is a Gandhian struggle. And this government has confined Gandhi to currency notes and sanitation campaign,” he said. Chanda, another students’ leader from Jamia said that India will be guided by the path shown by Gandhi, Phule and Ambedkar.