A meeting on citizenship and social justice with Yogendra Yadav and Radhika Vemula turned into a debate over the contours of Indian democracy and a tribute to the University of Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula who ended his life on January 17, 2016. “Four years back Rohith wrote about how he was reduced to an identity, a number, a voter. Today, things have become even worse — they are trying to exclude people even from getting a vote and a number,” said Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula.
“I had withdrawn from public life going back to making a living. But when I saw how children were beaten in JNU and other universities, the brutality rattled me. That’s the reason I have come to this meeting,” said Ms. Vemula. She said she is planning a yatra under the banner ‘Mothers for the Nation’ to save the basic principles of Ambedkar’s Constitution.
Earlier, setting the tone for the meeting, Asma Rasheed of English and Foreign Languages University said that the poor, marginalised and the disadvantaged will be the most affected as they may not be able to produce documents.
“The CAA is a signalling device like Israeli citizenship based on religion. It hits the very idea and soul of India. Instead of equal citizenship we are moving towards categories of citizenship. This violates the principle of our freedom struggle,” said Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan.
He remarked how a new leadership has emerged during these protests which has pushed aside traditional leaders and political wheeler-dealers. “Women are in the forefront of this movement. There is warmth in Shaheenbagh protests which cannot be found elsewhere. Youth from different campuses are now at the head of the movement which is no longer against NRC-NPR-CAA,” said Mr. Yadav.
“The youth are interested in their present and their future. They are not interested in the past,” said Mr. Yadav who spoke about asymmetry in the information warfare as social media’s reach is just 2%.
He demanded that the government start a National Register of Unemployed and a National Register of Farmers if it really wanted to help society.
