“Our father used to narrate to us an incident from Bhagat Singh’s life. He was very close to Shiv Verma. He said that the last time Shiv met Bhagat Singh, he started tearing up,” said Keshaw Anand, pausing briefly.
“When Bhagat Singh looked at Verma and asked why he was crying, Verma replied that he was not crying because Bhagat Singh was about to die, but because he himself was not in his place. In response, Shaheed Bhagat Singh said that what he did was easy, since all he had to do was throw a bomb in the Assembly. Verma’s job would be much more difficult — fighting oppressors in an Independent India, because the oppression would not stop with Independence. This is what my brother Aditya Anand and I had grown up hearing.”
Missing pieces
Keshaw took a deep breath. He and his legal counsel have been running pillar to post to find out the grounds for his brother’s arrest. “It is not just my brother but also many other activists who were arrested on suspicion of being ‘Pakistani agents’. The authorities have not shown us any proof for that,” he said.
Alongside Aditya, Rupesh Roy has also been named as one of the key accused in the case. However, Keshaw believes the only reason they were named the “key conspirators” is that they remained steadfast in keeping the protests peaceful.
“There are videos where Aditya is addressing a crowd of protesting workers, asking them to keep the protests peaceful — to not let them become violent because the police will try to instigate them; however, they should not lose their cool,” he said. “Similarly, Rupesh kept telling the workers not to be agitated or instigated by the police.”
Fighting for oppressed
The software engineer had consistently tried to follow in the footsteps of Bhagat Singh and fight for the oppressed. “They have seized a few books from his place. Among these books under suspicion are those written by the great freedom fighter. Aditya had grown up listening to stories about Bhagat Singh, especially since our father was a part of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Vichaar Manch. So, all he really cared about was being able to live up to the ideals of the great man,” Keshaw said.
Aditya had been working as a software engineer after graduating from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur, in 2020. “He was fairly successful working in the industry, but he could not stand the injustice meted out to the workers,” he said.
‘Planned unrest’
According to the police, Aditya had created a social media group called ‘X Storm’, which has emerged as a central cog in the investigation, with police asserting that social platforms were utilised in a “planned and deliberate” manner to incite unrest.
The investigation revealed that the group was formed to incite unrest. According to officials, the group comprised approximately 274 members and was designed to ensure videos gained rapid traction on X. Officials have also alleged that inflammatory and inciting content was circulated within these groups to escalate the scale of the protests. However, according to Keshaw, no proof has been provided to either the accused or their legal counsel to substantiate these claims. “As it happens, he only became a part of the protest much later. On April 9, the protest had technically started, and Aditya was not there. He only joined the protest the next day. This was spontaneous; since protests sprung up elsewhere as well, much after he was arrested,” he said.
A just struggle
The role of Rupesh Roy, an autorickshaw driver, in the protest also comes down to the basic spirit of empathy, according to Aditya’s brother. “Rupesh hails from a rather small area of Greater Noida adjoining the Hindon river. Driving an auto-rickshaw throughout the day, he is not much better off than the protesting workers; however, there was no reason for him to join the protests. But he saw that it was a just fight to engage in, and so he joined in,” he said.
This was not Rupesh’s first protest, however. Earlier in 2024, he was one of the frontrunners in a fight for electricity in Kulesara, his home. For the longest time, the village had no electricity. However, after he, alongside villagers living along the floodplains, organised protests, the Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) budged. The protests were conducted by residents of Kulesara, Haldoni, Lakhnawali, and Suthiyana.
Also Read: Noida protests: activists allege police interference, lapses
“Hence, he has always been embroiled in some protest or another. Surprisingly, even he is an ardent follower of Bhagat Singh. From his house in Kulesara, a library functions under the local wing of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, which was founded by the freedom fighter. Children come to study, and he also used to organise competitions for students to help them excel,” Keshaw said.
Most importantly, children could come and be taught by college volunteers, since local schools in the area lacked essential facilities.
“Unfortunately, such a person has been dubbed a ‘terrorist’ and an ‘instigator’ just because he chose to speak against the injustice meted out by corporates and factory owners against workers. He chose to keep himself second,” he said.
Wife reported missing
Rupesh’s brother, Madhuresh, has also been detained by police personnel, while his wife, Shubhi, has been declared missing, and the police are searching for her.
The police have deemed the presence of non-workers an indication of external factors and a deeper conspiracy. However, Keshaw believes that such measures are undertaken to protect employers. “This only sets a precedent where it serves as a warning to future protesters that if they dare to fight back, then such arrests and violence may follow,” he said.
The factor that binds most of these non-workers together is their association with Mazdoor Bigul Dasta, a workers’ union, according to the police. Satyam Verma, a senior journalist, was arrested on April 19 alongside Himanshu Thakur, a PhD student. Both were accused of being members of the workers’ union and of organising the protests. However, it was also their admiration for Bhagat Singh that tied them together.
A literary mind
Verma had only recently written a book titled ‘Bhagat Singh aur Unke Saathiyon Ki Katha’ (Story of Bhagat Singh and his comrades). “He has been working extensively on rewriting and arranging such works for a long time. He has also arranged books of Mark Twain and other English authors,” said Keshaw.
On the other hand, Himanshu Thakur is a member of DISHA, a student organisation, who, according to the police, was found at the protest site on both days. However, according to his legal counsel, he was only passing by and was not involved. Among them, Aakriti Chaudhary, an anganwadi activist, Srishti Gupta, an artist, and Manisha Chauhan, a worker, have also been arrested.
Presently, Keshaw is waiting for the activists to be released, emerge vindicated, and have their rights recognised. However, he is now of the opinion that if Bhagat Singh were alive today, “even he would be labelled a terrorist.”
