People's Democracy

IN response to a joint call by the SFI, DYFI and the Jamia Democratic Forum, the ninth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid was observed on December 6 as "Day Against Communalism" in the Jamia Millia Islamia campus. A large number of students, including girls, participated in the programme that was organised on the occasion, defying the restrictions imposed by the Jamia administration as well as the authoritarian atmosphere that it has sought to create in the campus.

Addressing a public meeting held in Tikonia Park near the campus, which was presided over by Delhi DYFI secretary Mahesh Kumar, All India Democratic Women’s Association general secretary Brinda Karat demanded that those guilty of demolishing the Babri Masjid, many of whom are ministers in the central government today, must be brought to book. She also lambasted the Sangh Parivar’s communal politics in the run-up to the coming UP assembly polls and asked the prime minister to explain why the VHP leaders who illegally entered the disputed site recently were not arrested. She termed the POTO as an attempt by the NDA government to curb the democratic rights of the common people, suppress political dissent and terrorise the minorities.

Hannan Mollah, CPI(M) MP, spoke on the threat communalism poses to our national unity and how communal propaganda divides the common people fighting for legitimate rights. He also took the NDA government to task for its attempts to tamper with history textbooks in order to inculcate the communal ideas of the RSS in the minds of school going children. Pointing out how the ban on SIMI was being used as an excuse to harass the common people in Okhla and neighbouring areas, he emphasised that the democratic rights of the common people were the real targets of legislations like the POTO.

Others who spoke included JNU Students Union president Albeena Shakil. She spoke against the NDA government’s policy of privatisation and saffronisation of education and also demanded restoration of the democratic rights of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia, that stand suspended since 1997. The fact that Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University have organised students unions whereas Jamia Millia Islamia doesn’t, despite being a central university in the national capital, exposes the discriminatory attitude of the government, she observed.

Along with the public meeting, two street plays against communalism were performed by the artists of Kirori Mal College (Delhi University) and the theatre group Act One.

The programme culminated in a procession against communalism through the campus in which a large number of students from Jamia participated. The students raised slogans against the BJP-led government and demanded withdrawal of the POTO. (INN)