This fight is not a fight for us, but for Jawaharlal Nehru University and for every university in India.'
'A university which does not allow dissent becomes a prison.'
In dramatic scenes, Umar Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who had been untraceable after being accused of sedition, returned to the campus late on Sunday evening.
Khalid turned up at JNU's administration block, where hundreds of students began to gather, and gave a rousing speech just shy of 14 minutes, insisting that he would stand his ground and asked that all students unite against the attacks on our country.
This is what he had to say:
"Firstly, I would like to thank all the students and those faculty members who have been a part of this fight. I say this is not a fight for the five or six of us, but a fight for everyone.
This fight that we are in is not a fight for us, but for Jawaharlal Nehru University and for every university in India.
This is also a fight for how our society will be in the future.
Friends in the last 10 days, I have come to know things about me which I never knew. For instance, I have been to Pakistan twice.
I don't have a passport, but I came to know that I had been to Pakistan twice. I came to know that I am a mastermind. JNU students have a wonderful mind, but I was the one who is the mastermind of this programme.
It was also revealed that I was planning a pro-Afzal Guru programme in 17, 18 universities. I seriously did not know my influence was so huge. Then they said I was planning this meeting for last two, three months.
Then they (the media) alleged that I had made 800 calls to the Gulf, Kashmir. They don't have any proof. They just said I did it.
They have no shame and if we expect them to feel ashamed about the reports they come up with, then we will be fooling ourselves.
The media has carried out a virtual trial against us. The way they have tried to frame us, the way they have profiled us.
We don't have any link with Jaish-e-Mohammed and still there is no apology from the media or a disclaimer. They don't feel the need to do that.
I laughed when because I thought the Jaish-e-Mohammad would feel ashamed that their name would be associated with us, because we are protesting at Jhandewalan (the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Delhi).
If the media thinks they will be spared, then it will not happen. They have worked against the country. If there is some Adivasi, then they call him Maowadi (Maoist) and if there is a Muslim, then they call him a terrorist.
This is the way the media carries out a trial against us and the State supports them.
Perhaps, many people are helpless and nobody is there to talk for them, but bhaisaab, you have taken on the wrong guys. JNU students will teach them a lesson (mazaa chakhaenge). Every media channel will have to answer questions.
I was not concerned about myself because I know you all would be there for me.
I was concerned when I saw the statements of my sisters and my father. The way my sisters were abused on social media -- some threatened them with rape, some with murder.
I recall the time when Bajrang Dal men raped Christian nuns in Kandhamal they were saying 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai.'
Then I remember Comrade Kanhaiya's statement where he said if this is their Bharat Mata, then this is not our Bharat Mata. And we do not feel ashamed of it.
My father was interrogated and they wanted to frame me somehow. There are some journalists in Zee News and one bhaisaab in Times Now. I don't want to take his name. And there are some other reporters too. I don't know how they live with so much hate against JNU students. How do they live with so much hate?
I have said this before and I say this today too. For the last six years, I have been involved in politics on campus and I have never spoken of being a Muslim. I never projected myself as a Muslim too. But in the past 10 days, I felt that I was a Muslim and being oppressed because of it.
To quote Rohith Vemula, 'I was reduced to my immediate identity.' And this is very shameful.
There is a need for us, for those who come from oppressed communities and oppressed identities, to come out of our immediacy and look at all these things in a holistic manner.
They call me a Pakistan agent and I would like to quote a Pakistani poet, 'Arrey Bhai, Hindustan bhi mera hai, Pakistan bhi mera hai par inn dono mulkon par America ka dera hai, aur tum America ke dalal ho (India too is mine and so is Pakistan, but America is sitting on the resources of these two countries and you all are their agents).'
No comments:
Post a Comment