‘Raise your voice... stand with students’

Students protesting peacefully on campus are being labelled as anti-national and those wielding pistols are accepted as nationalists, said Aishe Ghosh, president

Students protesting peacefully on campus are being labelled as anti-national and those wielding pistols are accepted as nationalists, said Aishe Ghosh, president of the students’ union at Jawaharlal Nehru University, on Saturday in Mumbai. Ghosh was referring to the shots fired by pistol-wielding men at students of Jamia Millia Islamia on January 30, and at the protesting women at Shaheen Bagh on February 1.

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“If those in power think that the youth and students of India will not rise against fascism, they are wrong,” Ghosh said, speaking at the Mumbai Collective event held at YB Chavan Centre in Nariman Point.

“Don’t wait for a student to die. Raise your voice and stand in solidarity with the protesting students,” Ghosh urged the audience.

During a panel discussion on ‘Students as Vanguard’, Aisha Kader, general secretary of the students’ union of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), said, “Our non-violence is the biggest threat to the government. The greatest fear for this government is the voices of dissent, student leaders speaking against their policies.”

“If the movement has to go on, the intensity shown by the women of Shaheen Bagh must resonate across the country, said Afra Abubacker, a student from Jamia Millia Islamia.