New Delhi: Days after boycotting classes over the suspension of 17 students, protesters from Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University took their demonstration to Jantar Mantar Wednesday, where they were joined by members of Left-leaning student organisations and professors from various other universities.
The protest was marked by impassioned speeches and revolutionary poetry, and according to students, was held to underscore the growing concern over shrinking democratic spaces on university campuses and police action in the past.
The demonstration saw participation from multiple student organisations, including the All India Students Association (AISA), Students Federation of India (SFI), Disha Students’ Organisation (DSO), All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO), and the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS).
The protest venue resonated with logans about freedom of speech as well as Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s revolutionary poem, ‘Hum Dekhenge’.
A student said the 17 faced disciplinary action for protesting the university’s action against four PhD scholars for organising a demonstration on 16 December to mark the anniversary of the 2019 anti-CAA protest at Jamia.
“We protested for three days, but the proctor did not care. Not even a single class was held on Monday. We collected 500 signatures and tried to submit them to the proctor, but he disappeared. We had no choice but to bring our protest here,” she said.
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‘Systematic suppression’
Utara, one of the students, condemned the administration’s actions and said students were illegally detained and suspended. “This is not happening in isolation, it is happening systematically. Democratic spaces are being eroded. They want to silence students and curb dissent.”
The protest was met with strong support from the academic community. Several professors from the Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) addressed the gathering, highlighting the “increasing criminalisation of student protests”.
DU professor Nandita Narayan expressed concern over the state of academic freedom. She said the current government is attempting to eliminate critical thinking from universities, “as evident from the draft reservation policies and other measures”.
“The teaching community is standing in solidarity with Jamia students,” she said.
DU professor Vijendra Chauhan condemned the criminalisation of protests and said the Jamia students did what the university administration should have done—raise their voice against the Delhi Police’s action. “These are young students, some in their first year. The responsibility to protest should have been taken up by institutions across Delhi, not just these students,” he said.
Criticising Jamia’s administration, he said that in the past, Jamia has stood with its own students, and acted as the voice of the helpless. “What is Jamia trying to prove by punishing its own students? Many Jews believed that if they listened to Hitler, they would be spared—but history proved otherwise. How could Jamia align itself with the government against its own?” he asked.
Elaborating on the broader implications of the incident, he said that apart from elections, democracy in India had stopped functioning, leading to the “dismantling” of media, judiciary, and educational institutions. “What happened to these students is not just about punishing them but making an example out of them. It is a warning to others about what can happen if they dare to speak. I salute these students for choosing courage over fear,” he said.
JNU professor Moushami Basu, representing the teachers’ association, criticised the increasing surveillance and restrictions imposed on university students. “They need to stop treating university campuses as military camps. Campuses should be spaces for learning and discussion, not sites for suppression and intimidation,” she said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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JMI students and alumni played an active role in the Shaheen Bagh protests and subsequent violence. They were instrumental to the riots that broke out in north-east Delhi and resulted in the deaths of around a hundred people and displacement of thousands accompanied with large scale destruction of property.
It’s sad and disappointing that the Union government has not been able to discipline the students or to effectively punish them for the episode of horrific violence and terror which Delhi witnessed.
JMI seems to be going the AMU way – an institution where Islamic fanaticism rules and propagates hatred for adherents of other religions.