8/18/2019 Poster of Protest Meeting of 19 Feb 2013
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On 6 February 2013, Delhi University was rocked by two related
events. The first of these was the visit to the university campus
by Narendra Modi,
Chief Minister of Gujarat. The second was the brutal and
unprovoked action undertaken by the Delhi Police against protestors
to this visit, on a scale
probably unprecedented in the history of the university. Modi is
widely known as the mastermind of the 2002 genocide in Gujarat; as
a champion of anti-
people, anti-poor policies; and as a promoter and benefactor of
predatory and deeply corrupt big business houses. Many in the
university immediately
saw the visit for what it was – a blatant misuse of the
university space to promote these condemnable agendas, with Modi as
their champion, in the
name of lecturing on “development”. Therefore, several groups
and organizations of students and teachers who wished to express
their opposition to
this, gathered outside Sri Ram College of Commerce on that day,
in a peaceful and completely legitimate expression of
protest.Suddenly and without the slightest provocation, hundreds of
protesting students and teachers were brutally and repeatedly
lathi-charged by
the police with no prior warning. The water cannon was used on
two occasions. Onlookers were shocked to see many female
protestors, both students
and teachers, molested and abused with the crudest sexual
language and with highly sexually offensive gestures, by police
personnel as well as by
ABVP and other elements who had come in support of
Modi. Female protestors were threatened with sexual
penetration with iron rods and lathis, as
had been done in Gujarat. Instead of checking and removing
these elements, the police dragged several of the protesting
students over the barricades.
Then threw the protestors into the hands of these communal
elements, allowing them to be viciously assaulted. The victims of
this horrifying collusion
between the police and the Modi supporters were then detained at
the Maurice Nagar Police Station. Despite repeated requests
to the police, by several
of the teachers and students present, to exercise restraint, the
police remained openly belligerent. In fact some teachers who were
advocating for the
students were brutally beaten in the lathi-charge.
To cover up this shameful and outrageous conduct, the police
have lodged FIR against nine of the protestors (one teacher and
eight students)
under Sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 332 and 353 of the IPC, as
well as Section 3 of the PDP Act. The last three are non-bailable
offences. Eight of those
named in the FIR were among those who filed police complaints
against the police and ABVP goons on the 6th evening. Such
blatantly vindictive and
arm-twisting tactics, as well as the display of excess by the
Delhi Police, are condemnable in the strongest terms, and must be
immediately reversed.
We also strongly condemn the shameful silence of the University
administration, which is morally and legally responsible for the
safety and
security of its teachers and students. It is outrageous that the
University administration should have allowed such a heavily armed
police deployment
against its own teachers and students in the first place. In
this particular incident, the University's evident policy of
clamping down heavily on any form of
dissent, protest or even criticism has been taken to obscenely
authoritarian heights. No claims of threat to security can ever
justify such fascist actions,
more so when they are as motivated and false as they have been
in this instance. This action has made the collusion and
understanding between the
various ruling parties amply clear, giving the lie to the
ostensible differences between them. There is a common agenda
amongst them to further the
interests of a highly corrupt and casteist corporate business
sector – which is exactly the agenda of the current University
administration as well, in the
shaping of education, research and pedagogy. The intent to
suppress all progressive and democratic voices opposed to, or even
critical of, this pro-rich,
increasingly communal and casteist agenda in the most
unprincipled, unscrupulous and brutal manner possible, is now, more
than ever, explicitly on
view. The University as a space where debate, dialogue and
dissent must, by definition be respected, has been gradually but
steadily been under
attack; with the current administration, this attack has crossed
all limits of acceptability. The University cannot and must not be
reduced to an assembly
line of stooges. And so we demand:
• Unconditional apology from the Delhi Police for
unleashing brutal violence and sexual harassment
against students and teachers protesting against Narendra Modi’s
visit to the Delhi University!
• Immediate withdrawal of fabricated FIRs lodged against
nine of the protestors!
• Strongest disciplinary action against the errant police
personnel!We call on all members of the University community, as
well of civil society at large, to join us in demonstrating our
vehement, unconditional and united
opposition to these agendas and policies, and to reclaim the
University as a genuinely democratic and engaged space. Join us in
demanding that the
University administration apologise for its disgraceful
collusion with and tacit participation in this fascistic action,
and that it give categorical assurance
that there will never be a repeat of such an incident in the
University.
AISA AIDSO AISF CFI CTF DSU DTF FDSJSM KYS LDTF NOWRUZ NSI SIO
SFI
Join United
PROTEST MARCH
followed by
PROTEST MEETING
19th February (Tuesday) from Arts Faculty12 noon
outside ArtsFaculty Gate2 m
