Protests around the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have gained full momentum, refusing to be quelled. The students of the country have become the voice of this agitation and 60 student unions and youth organizations have decided to come together to form the Young India National Coordination Committee (YINCC) to consolidate students protests, starting January 1, 2020. Their New Year resolution? Defending the Constitution.
The circular for this movement, which has been shared with students across the country says, “It is the need of the hour to develop coordination between protesting students and organizations on a national scale and enhance its scope and impact.”
Speaking to The Hindu, the students said, “Indians are resisting the dangerous design of the divisive amended Citizenship Act and the NRC with heroic grit and braving all repression. The students and youth of the country are leading the fight against the threat that CAA-NRC poses to the democratic and inclusive character of India enshrined in our Constitution.”
They also added that a pan-India NRC was dangerous as it would disenfranchise the poor and underprivileged and the Muslims and that the NPR wasn’t just a population-counting exercise but the first step towards the implementation of the NRC and marking citizens as ‘doubtful’ or illegal citizens.
In Pune, organizations like the Indian Youth Congress, National Students’ Union of India, Film and Television Institute of India, the Savitribai Phule Pune University’s student organization and the Yuvak Kranti Dal among others are expected to participate.
The student’s wing of the DMK and the RJD, Bhim Army from UP and the Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch have also extended their support to the YINCC.
Satish Gore, a student representative from the Savitribai Phule Pune University students’ organization told the Pune Mirror, “We have resolved to defend our Constitution since the first day of the New Year. We have already given an ultimatum to the Union Government to revoke CAA, NRC and NPR before January 26, 2020. If the Modi-Shah duo doesn’t pay heed to our demands before or on January 8, we will shut down all the universities. Varsities from the state and other deemed ones have agreed to support this decision.”
The organizations plan to use social media to expand the awareness of their protest. Kamalakar Shete from the Yuvak Kranti Dal who attended a meeting in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the mass protest said, “When we started protesting seven days before, there were few students who supported us. Now, there are many who want to be a part of this campaign. Instead of celebrating the New Year, we have decided to defend the Constitution and have demanded that the act, which is passed, should be revoked before January 26.”
Rahul Chettri, from the Dibrugarh Students’ Union felt that in the wake of police brutalities on the students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMIU) and the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), the ongoing protests in Assam, where the movement against the CAA-NRC began, were not being highlighted. “The protests in Assam were not being highlighted. I hope the new umbrella body will be able to highlight these protests and the sacrifices that the students have made,” he told The Hindu.
After the Prime Minister’s speech at a recent rally where he said there had been no official declaration or discussion of a nationwide NRC, many people have said that it is evident that Modi and Shah were not on the same page regarding the matter. This disparity in their public statements will prove to be a big win for the movement, the students said.
After the CAA-NRC protests began in Assam, they spread to other states in the country. In Delhi, after protesting students from the JMIU were brutally hurt by the police, students throughout the nation came forth to express solidarity with them and propel the protest against the unconstitutional Act. This fire spread to the AMU in Uttar Pradesh and once again police brutalities left many grievously injured. This prompted the country into action and it is now that the youth, especially the students, both India and abroad, have made it their resolve to get the ruling government to go back on their decision that can jeopardize the future of the nation.
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