New Delhi: Neelam Azad, arrested in connection with Wednesday’s security breach at the new Parliament building, is seen as a “revolutionary” and an “unconventional” woman by residents of Ghaso Khurd village in Haryana’s Jind district.
Posters of revolutionary Bhagat Singh, social reformer B.R. Ambedkar, former president and scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, along with a world map adorn the walls of her study at her two-storey house in Ghaso Khurd, her family members told ThePrint.
Deeply inspired by Bhagat Singh, Neelam changed her surname from Verma to Azad during the farmers’ protests of 2020-2021, her family said over the phone.
She has also participated in other protests in Haryana in the past — be it the farmers’ agitations, by the wrestlers against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, or even local protests by workers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGS).
However, the issue closest to her heart, is unemployment, said her family.
Despite having cleared the National Eligibility Test, the Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test and having earned an MPhil degree in Sanskrit, Neelam has failed to secure a job, they told ThePrint. She also sat thrice for the Indian civil services exam but couldn’t clear it.
In a video that is doing the rounds on social media and television, Neelam can be heard raising the slogan of “tanashahi nahi chalegi” (down with dictatorship) while opening a smoke canister outside the new Parliament building, from where she was arrested Wednesday along with Amol Shinde, a graduate from Latur, Maharashtra, also alleged to be part of the security breach conspiracy.
The duo, along with three others, have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for the alleged conspiracy.
Neelam’s elder brother Kuldeep, who works as a milk seller in Hisar, said it was he who first saw her being taken away on television and informed their family over a phone call.
But the family believes she has not done anything wrong and should not be booked under the UAPA.
“Neelam has only raised slogans outside Parliament. She has not dropped a bomb, contrary to the charges the police have booked her for. The entire village is with us. Everyone knows that she is not guilty and we are with her,” Neelam’s 57-year-old mother Saraswati Devi said to ThePrint.
Several Ghaso Khurd residents ThePrint spoke had similar things to say about Neelam.
“She is a gentle woman and innocent. She has been raising her voice against unemployment for a long time. In a democracy, it’s our right to protest. The way of (her) protest is debatable but to book her under the UAPA is uncalled for. She is not a terrorist,” said Aazad Pahwa, a local farm leader.
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‘Neelam our only hope for a prosperous life’
Two years ago, Neelam had opened a public library in the village and also teaches self-defence to women and girls, residents of Ghaso Khurd told ThePrint.
During the farmers’ protests, she distributed books of Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar and a copy of the Indian Constitution, they added.
“She would also take contributions from the villagers to buy academic books for students, benches and a wifi connection for the library. Everyone liked her,” said one resident who wished to not be named.
The daughter of a halwai, Neelam’s family said she is their only hope for “prosperous life”.
“We are a lower middle-class family and are not able to make ends meet. We all have hopes from Neelam. She wants to earn for us. We educated her,” said her mother.
In 2015, Neelam had suffered a spinal injury when she fell from the first-floor staircase of her house. For the next three years, she was bedridden, but she kept studying, said her family members.
Khap calls for Neelam’s release
On Thursday, the local kisan morcha along with civil activists and khaps held a panchayat in Uchana tehsil and demanded Neelam’s release. They said her demands from the government were not illegitimate and that she was driven by her own state of unemployment.
Police sources had earlier told ThePrint that the accused in the Parliament case had claimed during questioning that they had planned the breach to “protest against unemployment and compel policymakers to acknowledge their concerns”.
According to the panchayat, the government should release Neelam and the others arrested with her and look at the intention behind their protest.
“How frustrated Neelam must have been to take such a step to protest outside Parliament. Young men and women are committing suicide in Haryana because of unemployment. But the government is not paying attention to that,” Samundar Singh of Majra Khap, Jind, told ThePrint.
Azad Pahwa spoke about meeting Neelam during protests.
“She joins a protest even if it is a small one. She always stands in solidarity. At these protests, we would meet and greet each other and she would always be agitated because of discrimination and inequality in our society,” he said.
This is not the first time that Neelam has been detained by the police. During the wrestler’s protest this May, Neelam was detained and released after a few hours, according to her family.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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