When Deepika Padukone enlivened a JNU protest

Published by
Patriot Bureau

The Bollywood actress visited the campus on January 7 to show solidarity with students and teachers protesting against Sunday’s mob attack

ON TUESDAY evening (January 7), Jawaharlal Nehru University students, teachers and alumni protesting against the mob attack on their campus two days before had a surprise visitor: Deepika Padukone.

The actress was in Delhi to promote her new film Chhapaak and afterwards visited the JNU campus to show solidarity with the students, many of whom had been hurt in the mob violence, allegedly unleashed by members of the Sangh Parivar affiliate ABVP.

Apart from Padukone, several prominent figures, many of them alumni, addressed Tuesday’s public meeting, organised by the JNU Teachers’ Association to condemn the mob attack and demand the resignation of vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar. They included Sitaram Yechury, Yogendra Yadav, Kanhaiya Kumar, D Raja, and Kavita Krishnan. Nearly a hundred people were gathered, including a representative of the teachers’ association of Jamia Millia Islamia, where the Delhi police had brutalised students in response to a protest against the citizenship law last month.

After Yechury finished his speech at around 6:30 pm, the protest started to lose intensity, but Kanhaiya Kumar worked the gathering up again. Aishe Ghosh, president of the JNU Students Union who was among those injured in Sunday’s violence, stood beside him as Kumar spoke, to loud cheers and sloganeering. It was while Kumar was speaking that Padukone arrived, creating quite a flutter and invigorating the crowd further. Kumar shouted slogans for around 10 minutes and the crowd responded with gusto.

Padukone did not address the gathering, nor did she make any comments to the press. She only briefly spoke with Ghosh after the sloganeering ended, and left.

Speaking afterwards, Ghosh urged Padukone’s fellow Bollywood stars to follow her example and support people’s struggles.

Padukone’s JNU visit also stirred a storm on social media and TV news studios. While several of her film industry peers, activists and journalists such as Swara Bhaskar, Anurag Kashyap, Anubhav Sinha, Rana Ayubb, and Umar Khalid praised Padukone for showing up at JNU, BJP spokesperson Tajinder Singh Bagga called for a boycott of her movies. In his show on Republic TV, Arnab Goswami thundered that people like Kashyap and Padukone didn’t know much about the Citizenship Amendment Act or the National Register of Citizens, implying that they had no business protesting.

Earlier in the evening, as Krishnan was addressing the gathering, a drone appeared overhead, and the crowd burst out laughing. “Why are you putting in so much effort, you could have just attended the meeting,” Krishnan remarked sarcastically, referring to whoever was flying the drone, presumably the police or security agencies.

The government claims they do not have enough money for education and need to hike fees, Krishnan continued, yet they find the resources and money for NPR and NRC.

Yogendra Yadav said the Narendra Modi regime was scared of JNU because it is one of the few institutions in India now that prizes critical thinking. “The present government is scared because JNU can think and they don’t welcome thoughts,” he said.

 

www.newslandry.com                        

Patriot Bureau

Published by
Patriot Bureau

Recent Posts

Samarpan Utsav 2024: An evening of Indian classical dance, music

The program will include various performances by students and teachers, along with some guest artists

December 23, 2024

Ammonia spike in Yamuna hits water supply in Delhi parts

Pollution spike in Yamuna disrupts water supply in North Delhi, causing low pressure and contamination…

December 23, 2024

Ahead of Delhi polls, Kejriwal helps women register for ‘Mahila Samman Yojana’

AAP govt launched the Mahila Samman Yojana, under which eligible women above the age of…

December 23, 2024

Dastkari Haat Samiti’s 39th craft bazaar underway at Dilli Haat

The Annual Crafts Bazaar at Dilli Haat helped artisans from across the country display their…

December 23, 2024

Delhi polls: BJP issues ‘chargesheet’ against Kejriwal; vows to remove AAP from power

No immediate reaction was available from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the allegations of…

December 23, 2024

Delhi Weather: Drizzle in city, air quality ‘severe’

At 8.30 am, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 402, in the 'severe' category,…

December 23, 2024