Mohd Aasif | Caravan Daily
NEW DELHI — “The girls of the Jamia have paved the way,” is one of the slogans that gained popularity after the night of 15 Dec 2020. The slogan has not lost its relevance as time passed; and neither have the girls of the institution lost the spirit of the anti-CAA movement.
An incident of mid-night gunshot fire made them move to the street, as the security and safety of the campus became doubtful. Though the girls’ hostels have a curfew hour past 10:30 at night, girls daringly broke the locks of the three hostels and joined their fellow protesters at Gate 7.
The university administration, in the name of safety and security of the girl students, was not allowing them to leave the hostel premises. The main gate is kept guarded and closed after curfew timings. But the gates of the individual hostels are usually open. However, as and when the administration came to know of the resolve of the girls, all the gates were locked.
“Beta aap tala tod kar nikal jao hum khol nahi sakte (My child, break the lock if you could but I cannot unlock it)”, said one of the guards at the main gate. Feeling helpless and breaking open the locks, the girls held a march from the Old Hostel.
BEYOND THE WINTER CHILL
It was not just the winter chill the girls had to contend with. The threats and intimidation by the administration came as a serious concern. “I will see you”, the warden of the hostel told girls who wanted to go out to the protest site. Provost of the hostel, Tasneem Minai, went one step further and asked girls, “Why do you need Azaadi? Do you even know the meaning of Azaadi?” The administration, however, had success to an extent. Some of the freshers and school going girls got scared.
Asserting that holding a protest is their fundamental right, girls of Jamia struggled hard to register their protest. “The administration is sleeping and does not care about the life of the students anymore,” said Iram Jan, justifying their reason to protest. Talking about how condemnable the incident is, Sonam shared her views, “I cannot let terrorism do the same thing to Hinduism as it has done to Islam”.
Ironically, the security of the girls in the hostel has raised questions. No CCTV camera is installed on the Hostel campus and a break-in has been reported on 7 January 2019. Instead of taking care of the residents, the warden simply sat back and shrugged her shoulders.
“No one is in a healthy state of mind,” said Sonam who hails from a Brahmin family of Bihar and shares the plight of her fellow students. Students are pressing their concerned departments and faculties for a postponement of the examinations. “But the teachers are being insensitive. They want to somehow finish their task,” she said. “A teacher at the law faculty asked us to get used to the new India.” Furthermore, the Jamia teachers’ association has not released any statement condemning the incident on Sunday night.
The Jamia administration has issued another undemocratic, authoritarian notice to the students to not conduct any protest meeting, agitation, speech or mass gathering. The democratic rights have been curtailed due to “unlawful activities” and students have been warned of strict actions, the notice stated.
Resistance has become the new way of life. Girls felt suffocated in the hostel. For the safe arrival of the girls at Gate 7, boys went there to receive them from the hostel. Protesters were already there at Gate 7, and they welcomed the girls; and the environment turned emotional,” said Sumaiya. “Slogans hailing women empowerment and Jamia girls rent the air,” Sumaiya added.
The morning after the shooting incident, cops have started checking vehicles entering the premises from both sides of the road. Check posts were set up in the morning. Volunteers had already taken charge of the security of the protesters and started checking vehicles immediately after the shooting incident took place. They have started frisking those who come to join the protest. With the help of barricades, different points of entry and exit have been marked out.
Shadab Aqib, member of JCC, said, “Fear has gripped the protesters. No policeman was there at the time of the shooting. Even the SHO came some 20 to 25 minutes later.” Though the cops had promised to catch the culprits within a couple of hours, no one has been arrested. An FIR has been lodged against an unknown person after protesters pressed the cops for action.
ARTISTS AT WORK
The footprints of the protests are etched on a wall in the area. Artists are at work. New pictures of the shooting incidents and the courageous act of the injured student have been painted on the wall. The wall tells the tale of the ongoing movement in Jamia and across the country.
A group of artists have paid their tributes to the girls of Jamia and other participants of the ongoing movement by making a life-sized sculpture of a woman with a broken arm. The sculpture does not have a face as such. But, the hand up in the air for raising slogans, the hijab and the broken arm give the idea of different phases and facets of the movement.
An appeal has been released through the twitter account of Shaheen Bagh to all to reach the spot in solidarity with and support for the protests, from 11 at night till 11 the next morning, till the end of the Delhi state assembly elections.
