‘I ran for my life’
The heading of this article is a quote of Umar Khalid, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He was talking about how he survived an attack upon him on 13 August. It is important for others in South Asia to hear and understand the horrific experience of a PhD researcher-student of such a renowned university.
A similar story could have been written about Bangladesh’s Nurul Huq Nuru or Rashed Khan. After being repeatedly turned away from one hospital after the other, the injured student leader Suru stood in front of a hospital gate in Dhanmondi this July and made an appeal in front of journalists, “Save me, please!”
Saleha Begum, the mother of Nuru’s associate Rashed Khan, addressed a gathering at the Shaheed Minar on 12 July, saying she didn’t need any job for her son. She simply begged to get her son back.
There is a similarity among the three, Umar Khalid, Nuru and Rashed. The latter two had taken to the streets in demand of equality in education and employment. Umar Khalid’s struggle was for freedom of expression on campus. Nuru the others were beaten up on campus for demanding reforms in the public service system Umar had to run for his life because spoke for equality and independence.
We don’t know what future awaits Nuru, Rashed and Faruk. Some of them have been granted bail, their charges have not be dropped. But things are actually alarming for Umar Khalid.
Over the past two years, Umar and his like-minded friends Anirban Bhattacharya, Shehla Rashid Shora, Kanhaiya Kumar and others, have been harassed at JNU. In February 2016 they were charged with treason. They were accused of voicing anti-state slogans. But in actuality, this ‘anti-state’ stance was merely against BJP’s social and state policies and also an expression of solidarity with various regional struggles. But these young people, demanding their rights, are being branded all over India as ‘anti-national’ elements. BJP and the nation have merged as one. ‘Freedom of expression’ has become ‘treason’.
In Bangladesh too, we see students who were demanding reforms in the public service quotas and demanding safe roads, have been accused of ‘obstructing law and order,’ ‘destroying property, ’ ‘instigating clashes,’ and so on. Many of the protestors were beaten up badly before these accusations were even submitted in court. The families of many of the protestors have been harassed. No action was taken against all this. It seems to be justified to assault anyone with different views.
The last attack on Umar in India was by men wilding pistols by Constitution Club, near the parliament. He had gone there to attend a seminar, ‘Towards Freedom Without Fear’, organised by the NGO, United Against hate on the eve of India’s 71st anniversary of independence.
It was socking that a group of journalists tried to prove that Umar was not injured, that it was simply staged. A journalist of the well-circulated Hindi daily Bhaskar tweeted about this and his tweet was re-tweeted hundreds of times. Most of the re-tweeters were adherents of the BJP ideology. In this matter an alliance has been carefully crafted within a section of politics and the media to violently tackle those of divergent views. A political commentator termed this as a ‘cult of violence.’ In Bangladesh, it was in a similar manner that an effort was made to dig u the details of detained photographer Shahidul Alam’s family and ancestors, dead or alive.
It is unfortunate that the victims or their families have to come forward to protect their honour and dignity. On 16 August, Umar put up a picture of his assailants on Twitter. This tweet was re-tweeted around 8000 times. People all over the country saw the picture of the man who attempted to murder Umar. The leaders of the country must have undoubtedly seen it too. And the spot of the attack was in a high-security zone of Delhi. There were CCTV cameras all around. The attackers were identified on the CCTTV footage too. The pistol dropped by the assailant as he fled was also found on the spot. A special cell of the Delhi police detained two people from Haryana on 16 August in this regard.
Despite all this, smear campaign against Umar continues. Not only has his life been threatened, his character is being tarnished too. At this moment in India, there are very few progressive journalists and activists who are not facing such two-pronged attacks. On 15 August, the day before the assailant’s picture was posted on Twitter, Umar had called upon the people of India to protest against such a situation. He said that just as he had been attacked, another day it would be someone else. The assailants were out to destroy democracy.
Umar Khaled was a popular leader of the Democratic Students Union at JNU. Umar an the students of JNU were seen declaring their solidarity with the Dalit struggle in Bihar and Gujarat, the indigenous communities struggle for survival in Jharkand and Odisha, the freedom struggle in Kashmir, and more. JNU stands as a symbol of courage to the youth in India. BJP and its allies do not like this. That is why, under political pressure, the university authorities are endeavouring to silence the likes of Umar, Shehla, Kanhaiya, Anirban.
JNU refused to accept the PhD theses of Umar and two others in July, though these had been passed at all stages of higher research. Umar’s PhD dealt with the indigenous people of Jharkand. This too irked the authorities.
Despite facing harassment and hatred for alleged anti-state activities, Umar and his associates are still called by the youth to attend seminars and meetings. But over the past two years, wherever they go, the ruling party’s student organisation, Akhil Bharat Bidyarthi Parishad (All India Students Council), creates chaos. Not only the JNU leaders, but any progressive youth who stands against the government’s policies, is not allowed to speak out. The social media postings of the students are strictly monitored. They are often being forced, under mental or physical torture, to withdraw statements made in Facebook of Twitter. The Bidyarthi Parishad has thus rendered the campuses of various renowned universities into virtual prisons.
JNU’s student union directly blames the ruling coterie’s politics of hatred for this situation. The comment made by activist and author Gurmehar Kaur is particularly significant. She said if the rulers make create scope for their activists to express hatred against those with differing views in the media an online, it would be no surprise if that hatred would lead to taking to the streets with pistils to silence the opposing voices.
Gurmehar’s words bear relevance to the oppression of the free-thinking school, colleage and university students in Bangladesh in recent months. Any opposition to the rulers must be crushed by force. The latest victim of such a mindset is Umar. That is why he is having to tell the people of ‘liberal’, ‘democratic’ India: “I ran for my life.”
These five words of Umar is a terse portrayal of Modi’s rule. It also gives a message pertaining to the transformation of nationalist rule to fascism in South Asia.
Is this the only way to defeat opposition? Where is this taking India, Bangladesh and the entire South Asia?
* Altaf Parvez is a researcher of South Asian history. This piece has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir