Rabiha Abdurehim, a gold medalist from the Mass Communication department of Puducherry University was allegedly forced to stay out of the convocation ceremony that was attended by President Ram Nath Kovind for the fear that she would protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), The News Minute reported. University officials however, denied Rabiha’s claim.
“When I arrived here, when the President came, they asked me to come outside. They didn’t use any force, they asked me to come outside and automatically I knew why, why they wanted me to come outside,” she told News 18 Tamil.
Rabiha, a gold medalist from Pondicherry university rejected the gold medal because she was allegedly denied entry into the convocation hall when President Kovind arrived for the event on suspicion that she could protest against CAA.#CAA_NRCpic.twitter.com/U6QRhbgOvI
— Gopi Shah (@gops33) December 23, 2019
She said the decision to be kept out was unnecessary and unexpected. “They clearly expected me to do something when the President was there and told me to leave the auditorium,” she alleged.’
Rabiha, who had been a regular participant in rallies against the CAA and NRC had led protests against BJP leader Tarun Vijay’s visit to the campus.
She later refused to take the gold medal and the certificate. She said it was in protest against being sent out of the venue and standing up in solidarity with those opposing the CAA and the NRC.
A teary-eyed Rabiha, speaking to the media after she received her certificate, said, “I rejected my gold medal and refused to take it. It is an insult to me and every Indian who is fighting the government right now. I am an educated person and I don’t want a gold medal to tell me what to do. This is in solidarity with protests across the country over CAA and NRC and against police brutality on students who agitating peacefully. As educated youth we have to take a strong stand.”
It is reported that the student council had urged the students to boycott the convocation in protest against the CAA-NRC. However, reports suggest that while the student did take their certificates from the President, they did not take the medals as a sign of protest.
Protests against the CAA-NRC have spread like wildfire throughout the country. Apart from using brute force against the students who have become the face of the movement, the government has now started resorting to communal politics and indulging in hate speech to intimidate and corner the minorities into giving up their fight against the oppressive Act.
However, students all over the country, just like Rabiha, even after suffering a dark fate at the hand of the Modi regime, have refused to give up the fight for every Indian who is set to be affected by the CAA-NPR-NRC that has now put the burden of proof to reclaim their citizenship on those who got the government to power in the first place.
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