Mumbai rises against brutality in JNU, occupies Gateway of India

Protesters seen at Gateway of India on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

After news of the attack on a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) hostel broke on Sunday evening, anti-CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act) citizens coordinated on Whatsapp and set out for Gateway of India for a candlelight vigil at midnight.

Around 200 protesters holding the tricolour and placards converged opposite the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The crowd, comprising mostly students, sat on the ground amid lit candles, chanted slogans and recited poems. Around 50 police personnel stood guard nearby.

"There will be no media bytes - we have come here in solidarity," said an organiser. While an Imaam stood up to say, "We reject Jinnah's two-nation theory. You, the youth, are the future of this country."

The Colaba Social restaurant provided water coolers for protesters and declared that its washrooms shall remain open throughout the day

As the protest progressed, it was proposed that Gateway be Mumbai's Shaheen Bagh. "We should occupy Gateway of India and make it our very own Shaheen Bagh… we will stay here tonight," said an organiser. Thus, the movement #OccupyGateway began.

"It's not an easy task - to convert Gateway into Shaheen Bagh," said an organiser. "But we will try. In Assam, whenever a person leaves a protest to go rest, he is replaced by someone from the family or by a friend. It's called a relay protest. That's what we need to do."

'Chheen Ke Lenge'
At around 1.30 am, when the crowd had finished a round of chanting 'Azadi', there was silence for a few seconds. Just then, a voice emerged from the back of the group, 'Hum chheen ke lenge…" As the crowd turned in the direction of the voice, Umar Khalid emerged. Decibel levels rose as protesters urged him to come forward. Standing on a stool in the middle of the crowd, he addressed the crowd.

"They think that by doing this they can scare JNU. Aapke paas 56 inch ka seena ho sakta hai, humare paas nahin. Lekin aapke paas reedh ki haddi nahin hai…aur humari reedh ki haddi bohot mazboot hai," he said. "I have one final appeal: they will try to do this again; to provoke violence, and plant people among us. We have to ensure that we remain non-violent and untied. Tonight, we are all JNU."

Three demands
Lawyer and activist Lara Jesani, laying out three demands of the agitators, said, "The most important demand is that the police crackdown against students be stopped immediately and they should be given justice. Secondly, Amit Shah must resign and the CAA, NRC and NPR must be repealed. Third, the Maha Vikas Aghadi must issue an official notification that they will not implement either of the three in Maharashtra."

Speaking on the JNU violence and the attempt to spin the issue to make it look like an attack by the Left, she said, "They want to target people and have a systematic campaign against universities like JNU, AMU, Jamia, etc." When asked for how long will Gateway of India be occupied, she said, "That will be the decision of everyone who is coming here - it is not a call one or two people can make."

A little after 4.30 am, the crowd started thinning. By Monday noon, more people arrived and the crowd crossed the 1,000 mark. Multiple protest marches and vigils were held nearby by different parties and students groups and the road was cordoned off.

IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who was in Bhopal for an anti-CAA protest, told mid-day, "What happened at JNU has to be seen in the context of what Amit Shah said a few days back - 'tukde tukde gang ko sabak sikhayenge'. When the home minister says stuff like that, people take the cue and it makes the environment all the more dangerous. An irresponsible statement like this is a concern for all of us."

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