“We had been planning for months for this two-day conference. It clearly didn’t go the way we intended it to be, but has gained wider momentum.
On Tuesday (February 21), we were seated in the seminar hall when we were told that Umar Khalid will not be able to come to the seminar as some students from the ABVP had resisted it and spoken to the Principal about it.
Upset about the idea of him not being “allowed” to come, we decided to head to the Principal’s office. The principal refused Khalid’s entry and we along with our teachers decided to head back to the seminar hall. During our walk back from one building to the other, we were abused and mocked by some ABVP guys.
Frustrated about such tyranny, we decided to chant ‘azaadi’ slogans in the college. We were angry and upset. How could ABVP decide whether Khalid could come to our seminar or not?
We shouted ‘Humein chahiye baatcheet ki azaadi.Dalito ko chahiye azaadi…Soch vichaar ki azaadi…’ (We want freedom of speech, freedom to talk, freedom to debate)
We were raising these slogans when a few people shouted, ‘Bastar ko chahiye azaadi, kashmir ko azaadi.’ (Bastar wants freedom, Kashmir wants independence)
Yes, these slogans were raised. A few people raised it but everybody did not. We realised we did not intend to say that, neither did we have reason to. We feel sorry for the fact that we raised those slogans at that time. It was not called for.
By the time we reached the seminar hall, there was quite a ruckus.
ABVP activists were shouting abuses at us and threatening to tear us apart, chop us, disfigure our faces and what not.
One of my teachers, came through the crowd, pulled me by the hand and got me inside the seminar hall staircase. Then the iron gate was shut and locked.
The door acted as a barrier between us, ‘anti-nationals’ and those raising slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai.’
Up in the seminar hall staircase, Mahamedha Nagar, a member of the ABVP, was abusing people. She did not spare our professors either. She threatened to kill us and not a single person touched or asked her to move out. It was the women constables who came and dragged her out.
During all this, the ABVP guys were playing Hindi songs near the seminar hall in order to disrupt the conference. A few minutes later, stones were thrown and the power was cut off.
The next thing we knew, we were asked to run out of the seminar hall and out of the college back gate. From our own college, we were chased out as if we were causing the violence.
We ran, while those protesters shouted ‘Naxalbaadiyon yahan se niklo! Bharat Mata ki Jai!’ (Remove those Naxals from here)
The police couldn’t control them. Some of them even grabbed the SHO face and pushed her around. We were terrified. How could they do this?
We were sitting on the lawn on Wednesday morning when some men came shouting towards us–desh ke gadaro ko, kat daalo saalo ko. (Cut down the traitors of the nation)
The college gates were locked by the police and blocked by the protesters. There was a fight inside the college and one outside the gates. We could see the Indian flag being held by some guys, who had climbed on to the roof of a police bus and were shouting slogans like Vande Mataram.
The police was fighting them off, they were climbing the gates, dancing on the buses, pushing around girls and even slapping them. They knew how to make their way into the college, while we ran for our lives.
Many of the students along with some teachers were cornered in one area. They sang songs and our teachers stood around them. During this, the protesters continued to humiliate our teachers.
It was painful watching our teachers being abused like this. The verbal abuses directed at our professors felt like stones on our faces.
They were also thrashing whoever they could. I could see my friends being beaten for absolutely no reason. Little did I know even I would be a victim.
Six guys surrounded me and started beating me. I could see blood on my shirt. We were being beaten for organising an academic event where we invited a speaker of our choice.
A policeman pulled me out, but the assault continued in other places.
While I ran towards a rickshaw with my friends, I could see the protesters slapping women. For a long time, the police couldn’t control them.
I was rushed to the hospital and I did not return that night to my hostel. I had sustained injuries to my face and back.
By evening, I got a number of calls from my friends saying how their houses and hostels were being raided by ABVP activists. One of my female friends has a collar bone fracture while many of my other friends also got injured.
While I live in North Campus, I haven’t returned to my residence ever since. We were told that the ABVP people are taking part in a witch-hunt. We took down our Facebook profile photos so that they cannot track us. We are that scared.
My parents, who live in Indore, have been calling me and crying about my safety, while I am scared and hiding in another corner of Delhi.
After seeing the videos, Facebook Live and the pictures of the day, I don’t think we are safe anymore. They will come back for us again. They are not done with us as yet.
The word fear doesn’t even explain what we are feeling right now. Our seminar was not a political event. There was no right, no left and no centre. It was a seminar to discuss and debate.
I am scared to file an FIR. Looking at their show of masculinity, I doubt that police can help us.”
This is an eye-witness account of a Ramjas student who was present on February 21-22 when violence erupted in Delhi University’s North Campus. The student’s identity has not been revealed.
(Feature image source: PTI)
