Taru had come this time to the mobilization prepared. In one hand he held an anti-government banner and in the other a bicycle helmet.
“We need protection in case the Delhi Police beat us again,” said the 25-year-old, who was standing among her friends. “We are not afraid of them and we are not going to leave, no matter what they do. We will stay here until they hear us.”
On Tuesday (21/7), central Delhi remained packed with thousands of protesters as an unprecedented outcry against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strongman government showed no sign of abating.
Just 24 hours earlier, more than 50,000 people had taken to the streets in protest. Most of them were teenagers and young people in their 20s, who had been mobilized by a new, youthful political movement calling itself the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Their main demand was the resignation of the minister of education and the reform of a corrupt and problematic education system.
However, what started peacefully on Monday – with people fanning each other in the sweltering humidity, sharing snacks and shouting slogans – turned violent in the afternoon. Delhi Police denied the protesters the right to march towards Parliament and confined the growing crowd to a specific area. The internet was cut off and roadblocks were set up across the capital. And then came the police batons and tear gas.
Police claimed they were responding to provocative actions by protesters, but organizers and eyewitnesses alleged that security forces carried out unprovoked attacks, including on women and children in the crowd. About 60 people were injured and at least one protester is in intensive care, intubated.
“We were beaten mercilessly”
“The day started so beautifully, there was so much love,” said Tarou. “But after 3 in the afternoon the police started attacking us. They beat us mercilessly. I saw them coming up and hitting people on the head while they were sitting on the sidewalk doing nothing. And then, as we were running to leave, they tear-gassed us.”
Taru called the response by the Delhi Police – which is controlled by the central government – a “big mistake”. “Now we are more outraged than ever,” he said.
On Tuesday, Delhi Police’s heavy-handed stance failed to keep protestors away from the historic Jantar Mantar site in Delhi, which has become the focus of the CJP’s protests over the past month. The crowds were thick and energetic as they chanted non-stop slogans against the Modi government, demanding the resignation of both the education minister and the prime minister.
Some had traveled hundreds of kilometers to be there and said they plan to camp until the government responds to the demands of the country’s millions of young people.
“The government must understand: we are not going to leave,” said a 23-year-old protester.
India’s largest opposition party, the Congress, also took advantage of the mood, calling on Modi to step down “for destroying the future of India’s youth” while holding its own rally in Delhi on Tuesday.
Although the CJP movement has mainly focused on accountability for the disastrous exam issue leaks and demanding the resignation of the education minister, the prevailing sentiment after Monday’s incidents was that the mobilization has now gone far beyond a single issue.
“We will not back down until the government listens to us”
For some, this was the moment when India’s youth – more than 600 million people – gained their own political voice.
“The solidarity I saw on the streets yesterday filled my heart,” said Kuhoo Kaushik, a 26-year-old content creator from Delhi. “The way the government reacted was really sad. Police beating 14 year olds is horrible. But personally I feel that something has awakened in me. That’s why I’m back today: we won’t back down until the government listens to us. It has become something much bigger than education – but one step at a time.’
At a press conference on Tuesday, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke pledged that the protests would continue, but did not specify what the movement’s next steps would be to build on the momentum it has gained.
Standing next to the stage at the protest site, Ratna Singh, spokesperson for the CJP, said the movement is well aware of the ways the Modi government has managed to suppress previous movements and voices of dissent during its 12 years in power.
“Anyone who tried to speak out against this government faced charges of terrorism, tax audits or imprisonment, and there is a lot of fear,” he said. “But I’m very proud of how many people showed up and took to the streets. The police have shown us no mercy – but no matter how brutal they treat us, they will not silence us.”
While a senior government minister met two representatives of the CJP on Monday to discuss their demands, Singh said the government had not responded on Tuesday and that “the prime minister remained silent on what happened”.
Source: Lifo
