On Sunday, December 15, the All India Students Association (AISA), a left-leaning student association, and the National Student Union of India (NSUI), organized an event marking five years of the anti-CAA protests at the Jamila Milia Islamia, a minority institution in Delhi.
The students participating in the event raised Islamic slogans like, “Tera Mera Rishta Kya, La Ilaha Illallah” and “Hum Kya Chahte? Azadi.” They also criticized the PM Modi-led government and indicated that the country will never forget what happened in the year 2019.
As per the reports, the centrally-funded institute which had been the epicenter of anti-CAA protests in the year 2019 that claimed the lives of more than 50 and resulted in around 100 injuries, students there also threatened the administration.
As the protests started on campus, the college administration shut down the canteen and the library and suspended classes. However, this move enraged the protesting students who accused the administration of suppressing their right to express and organize protests.
AISA issued a statement regarding this and targeted the administration for imposing alleged restrictions. “On December 15, 2019, Delhi Police injured our friends, vandalized our campus, and treated us like terrorists. Today, they are preventing us from even remembering that horrific day,” the statement read.
Several videos of the protests are making rounds on social media in which the protesting students can be seen raising slogans even against the Delhi police who were deployed outside the campus amid the protests. The students claimed that the campus was put under lockdown and that their entries and exit were restricted. “Delhi Police Go Back,” “Hum kya chahte? Azadi,” were the slogans that could be heard in the videos.
"Tera Mera Rishta Kya, La Ilaha Illallah" and "Hum Kya Chahte? Azadi,"
— Subhi Vishwakarma (@subhi_karma) December 16, 2024
All these slogans were raised at Jamia Millia Islamia, a centrally funded institute today. The students, while making all these provocative Islamic slogans, are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the… pic.twitter.com/j90QXA3P70
Notably, while the students claimed that the administration had shut the canteen, classes, and the library in an alleged attempt to stop the protests, it is learned that the administration had taken the said decision as a result of the ongoing construction within the campus. As per the report by the Organizer, the administration had issued a notification stating ‘maintenance work’ as the reason for closure and restrictions on the entry and exit to certain areas within the campus. However, students continued to question the administration on the move and raised doubts indicating the timing of the notice.
Notably, massive violence erupted in Delhi in the year 2019 after the CAA Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15th, 2016, sought to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to illegal migrants, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religion. The bill was passed on 11th December and on 13th December it became CAB turned into CAA after getting the President’s nod.
On 12th December 2019, the students at Jamia Millia Islamia took out a protest march which took a violent turn by the 13th of December. The enraged protesters at Jamia and AMU including several Muslim groups attacked public transport systems in the region and indicated their resentment against the centre. By the 14th of December, the situation had worsened and amidst chants of Allahu Akbar and Naara-e-Taqbeer, Jamia Millia Islamia students became violent, leaving 12 police personnel injured.
In the given case, police officers continue to be deployed around the Jamia campus as the protesters ‘commemorate’ 5 years of the anti-Hindu riots. The university meanwhile is yet to issue a public statement regarding the allegations imposed by the protesters.
