New Delhi, 01 August– AISA president Neha Bora, who observed a 23-day hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar protest, Neha said the row over some of the protesters’ language is being used to subvert the issue of accountability over the police action on the Parliament march day.
Refusing to apologise for or condemn the cuss-laden denunciations of the Centre made by many agitators, Bora accused critics of trying to divert attention from the alleged use of pellet guns and police force during the July 20 crackdown.
In an interview with a news agency, she said the row over some of the protesters’ language is being used to subvert the issue of accountability over the police action on the Parliament march day.
Videos of protesters using abusive language, being circulated by the BJP IT cell and other BJP friendly outfits and person, have attracted political attention since the protest ended.
Citing one such protester is Ruchika Singh, a 15-year-old girl, whose expletive-heavy criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought her to the centre of the row and several FIRs against her, Neha said legal action against the teenager is an instance of selective outrage.
“You find the profanity of words so abhorrent. Didn’t you find it abhorrent when Dharmendra Pradhan called peacefully protesting students ‘terrorists’? Did you file an FIR against him? When Nitin Nabin called us viruses, did anyone file FIRs against them?” the student leader asked.
According to Neha, it’s not the language but the injuries suffered by demonstrators that should be talked about.
“First of all, the people who tell us to condemn this profanity, I am sorry. We will not play this game of yours. You are playing this game because we are asking for accountability from Amit Shah. We are asking for accountability from the Commissioner of Police. You feel that the pellet guns being used on students are a smaller issue and the statement given by Ruchika is a bigger problem,” she said.
“We are still seeking answers. Why did you use pellet guns on protesters on July 20? Why were security forces given pellet guns? Why were sticks covered with nails, with which protesters were injured?” she asked.
The activist also wondered why pejorative comments made against the agitators by the politicians were spared the same scrutiny.
“When your people use derogatory language from Parliament, and when an RSS ideologue says that ‘rape-loving women were protesting at Jantar Mantar’, that doesn’t sound profane to you,” she said.
Neha alleged that she and Ruchika Singh received several rape threats on social media following the controversy.
“The repression has a gendered nature. Six FIRs have been filed against Ruchika, there are rape threats; this is the gendered nature of the crackdown on protesters,” she said.
She also claimed that attempts are being made to divide protesters along caste and religious lines to weaken their movement.
“The divisions of caste, religion and gender that already exist in society are now being replicated in the repression so that the unity of the movement can be broken,” she said.
Maintaining that the movement does not seek to justify every word spoken by every protester, she underlined saying that she takes exception to the attempts to reduce the entire agitation to a debate over language.
“The issue before the country is not whether somebody used a bad word. The issue is whether common citizens protesting peacefully can be attacked with pellet guns and tear gas. That is what should disturb people,” she said.
While anti-paper leak agitators have alleged that police used excessive force, including pellet guns, against them during their peaceful march on July 20, Delhi Police has denied the allegations, The Centre has maintained that security personnel acted within law.
Earlier this week, multiple FIRs were registered against Ruchika Singh, including a Zero FIR lodged in Noida that has been transferred to Delhi Police for investigation. FIRs are being filed to intimidate and drive fear among the youth.
The cases have been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to intentional insult, statements conducing to public mischief and defamation.
“The buck stops at Amit Shah. The buck stops at the commissioner of police. If somebody has to resign or has to be sacked, it is these two people. No low-ranking official’s suspension is enough for us,” she said.
Questioning the alleged use of pellet guns and excessive force during the July 20 march to Parliament, the chief of the left-wing students’ organisation affiliated with the CPI(ML) Liberation said the government failed to explain why security personnel were equipped with pellet guns and “sticks covered with nails”.
“We are still seeking answers. Why did you use pellet guns on protesters on July 20? Why were security forces given pellet guns? Why were sticks covered with nails, with which protesters were injured,” she asked.
Bora argued that regardless of whether the alleged actions were ordered by a magistrate or senior authorities, political responsibility ultimately rests with the Union home minister.
“If it happened on the magistrate’s order, then what kind of Home Minister are you?… And if it happened on your order, then what kind of a criminal state are you running where pellet guns can be fired on ordinary citizens,” she asked.
Bora noted that the alleged police actions fundamentally changed the nature of the movement, transforming it from a focus on the paper leak issue into a broader political campaign against the government’s handling of the protests.
“A very large section of people used to come to us every day and say that they kept voting for the BJP government, but today, because of their vote, we have to sit on a hunger strike. They would say that because of their vote, students are committing suicide, and now they are very ashamed,” the AISA national president said.
“It (movement) is no more about Dharmendra Pradhan. It is about whether the government can be so barbaric with the common citizens of the country,” Bora said, claiming that the sense of betrayal among students and the youth was now directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah and the Delhi Police commissioner.
She reiterated that the demand for Shah’s resignation is inseparable from the push for the release of protesters detained during and after the agitation.
Veteran Journalist and Political Commentator
