Art meets dissent outside Jamia Millia Islamia

NEW DELHI: The epicentre of the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register for Citizens —the area outside Jamia Millia Islamia — is no longer just about sloganeering and holding placards.

The area has transcended into a space that showcases creative ways to put forward voices of dissent. This included theatre artistes from different universities holding a nukkad natak, “Jamiawala Bagh”, which draws analogy to Jallianwala Bagh 100 years ago, to reading books on youth protests and Gandhi and allowing budding artists and writers to express their anguish.
Fauzan Shams, an Aligarh Muslim University student who was a part of the play, said, “Colours will change, fascism will remain.Earlier, it was the British against the Indians. Now, it’s against our own government.” The artistes met at a cafe in Okhla on Saturday and did two rehearsals in the morning before the play was enacted.
In a makeshift library, books titled “In opposition to silence by Seema Sharma and Manoj K Jha”, “Jamia aur Gandhi by Afriz Alam Shah” and “Hindi Swaraj by Gandhi” available in English, Hindi and Urdu were on display. Sahil Ahmed, a Jamia student, who started the library, said, “We made this reading corner right outside the library, which was destroyed by Delhi Police. This is our way of protesting.”
Daniyal Saifi, a student of Chandigarh University, and DPS Noida student Bilal Ahmed were among those who had chosen the corner to read.
The almost 1-km stretch also had space for writers and artist to express their views. The “No to NRC/CAA” stickers, which could be stuck on sweaters and jackets, were a hit as at least 1,500 of them were used in a day.
With the protest having a theme every day, all those who had gathered on Sunday had tied white bandages in solidarity with the injured in violence across the country. A group of youths had made space to collect clothes for the poor and homeless.
The nearly 100 litres of tea being prepared and distributed among the protesters was also unmissable. Mohammad Faisal, a resident of Gafoor Nagar, said, “My father started this, but now we get a lot of help from other people. Some get sugar, some tea leaves.”