The Student Movement at Jantar Mantar is a Reckoning with the Republic

BHAGAT SINGH AND AMBEDKAR have been icons of the students’ movements precisely because the struggles they led founded the basis of the secular, democratic republic that we strive to preserve today. 79 years after Independence, students and youth from across India continue to take inspiration from the freedom struggle. No matter how some may try to rewrite history and portray that 2014 is when we truly attained “Aazadi” or try to write themselves into the history of the freedom movement, the truth remains that it was the Democrats, the socialists and the communists who fought that struggle, it was the young and the old, it was the people, who, across lines of caste, religion, gender, founded this nation in a trial of fire, in struggles that rained from the local to the national. The freedom struggle was weaved of different threads spanning ideologies and divides, meshing together to build the identity of this country, and in doing so it defeated the communal designs of the British and their Indian counterparts who benefit only from division and hate.

Today, we stand at a crossroads. Our struggle isn’t just about education, but against the larger pro corporate and communal political system being put in place by dismantling everything that our freedom fighters fought for. The dismantling and crisis of the education system is one expression of this larger structure. At the same time it is accompanied by policies of this government, each more disastrous than the last. From dismantling the labour laws and laws that support farmers, to inviting foreign companies to fully exploit the working people of this country, the Modi government has only betrayed the interests of the common people.

From mob lynchings becoming common, to bulldozer raj which especially is aimed at targeting Muslims and other minorities. The politics of hate and division which has been part and parcel of the RSS’s designs since before Independence has now been fully unleashed on the common people of this country and now is set on undoing every progressive and democratic ideal contained within the Constitution. The brutal attack unleashed on students and youth, with pellet guns and AK-47s leading the charge and supported by modified lathis and shock batons, unveiled this exact monstrosity of this government. It cannot be denied that it was at the explicit orders of Amit Shah that this unparalleled attack on the youth was carried out with the express purpose of instilling fear in the students and to disperse their unity. We, the inheritors of the freedom struggle take inspiration from the bravery of our fighters and will not be apologetic or cowardly like their icons.

The Jantar Mantar movement has today changed the social and political landscape of our country. Movements across the country are rising up, inspired by and drawing strength from the struggle of the last two months. Ranchi has been the strongest example of this movement, where adivasi freedom fighter Birsa Munda’s struggle inspires the youth who despite all the brutality continue to resist while standing together at every turn. Most importantly we see that despite all attempts to communalise and divide the students with hate, the common students have resisted all these efforts and rejected the politics of hate.

Celebrations of our Independence cannot be complete without our reaffirmation of collectivity also facing a reckoning with fractures and ruptures that are rampant in our country today. Our 80th Independence Day comes on the back of such a massive movement that has started what some have even called our Second Freedom Struggle. This moment is one where we will reforge the bonds that tie us together. This movement will be marked as the beginning of the end of the communal fascist BJP government. This moment we see as a continuation of the ideals and spirit of the freedom struggle. This 80th year is a decisive moment where the youth of the country once again have taken the leading role in deciding this country’s future.