First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
The last few weeks have seen a plethora of violence erupt all over the country, orchestrated by the ruling BJP-RSS dispensation. From the attack on Dalits in Gujarat, on students in Hyderabad University or the shooting of unarmed protesters in Kashmir, the pattern is clear. Any protest, any political opinion or way of life that runs contrary to the RSS ideal of a Hindu rashtra will be met with violence.
Kashmir leads the tally in killings, blindings and extreme violence on unarmed civilian protestors by armed security forces. Indian state and the mainstream media’s projection of Burhan Wani as a terrorist is clearly refuted by spontaneous outpouring grief and rage by tens of thousands of ordinary Kashmiri people. Of course, much of India is deliberately kept in the dark about the aspirations of the kashmiri people. There is conscious eraser of the history of Kashmir’s conditional accession to India, the subsequent militarization of Kashmir and the suppression of the people’s political demands. The demand for azadi reverberating through the valley is a political demand of the people – it needs to be acknowledged as such and dealt with politically, and not with guns. However the Indian state’s response to the political question of Kashmir has been denial and militarization – something that is getting even more intensified under the present regime. It is not just the armed forces, but Kashmiris coming in and out of Kashmir are also being targeted by Hindutva vigilantes in Punjab leading to Phagwara communal tensions.
It’s not just Kashmiris – even any Indian holding this political opinion about Kashmir is subject to attacks. Political opinions are being criminalized and met with violence in Universities as we saw at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Hyderabad Central University (HCU). Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder happened because he dared to voice an opinion on Kashmir and fascist attack on minorities that ran contrary to the RSS ideology and things have not changed with his death, the issues continue, the students are protesting and the pattern of violence continues. Recently HCU student Amol Singh, after attending a meeting on the situation in Kashmir, was allegedly mistaken for a Kashmiri student and was physically assaulted by members of ABVP. Later, the VHP president of Telangana threatened to enter HCU on 28th July to put Amol behind the bars since the police had failed to do the same. While goons are making open threats to students, the state government has chosen to remain a mute spectator. Telangana state government’s complicity is shocking in the light of the fact that during the struggle for the formation of Telangana in which much blood flowed and many lives were lost, students played a leading role.
Not only political dissent, but ways of life different from the Brahmanical order are also under attack. Recently in Gujarat, a group of Dalits were publicly flogged for hours, for simply doing their job, that is, skinning dead cattle. We saw same brutality in a series of incidents from Dadri killing to hanging cattle traders in Jharkhand to assault on Dalits in Una (Gujarat). The so-called cow protection is being used as a tool to fan communal hatred and to orchestrate attacks on Dalits and minorities.
The thread that connects all these attacks is the politics of communal hatred perpetrated by BJP-RSS-VHP against the oppressed sections of the society. But these attacks have not gone unchallenged, the regime saw country wide student protests, Dalits protesters continue to fill the streets of cities and people of Kashmir are strongly resisting the designs of the fascist forces. Silence is no longer an option and it is time to rise in rage against these attacks. CAFAU demands immediate measures for protection of HCU student Amol Singh and arrest of the VHP president of Telangana, action to be taken against fascist goons who attacked Amol Singh and those who are terrorizing dalits and muslims in the name of gau-raksha. CAFAU calls upon students and teachers to rise against the fascist attack and stand united with the struggle of the people for the establishment of true democracy.
JOIN PROTEST DEMONSTRATION AGAINST FASCIST ATTACK ON PEOPLE AT JANTAR MANTAR ON FRIDAY, 29TH JULY, 1:30PM
CAMPAIGN AGAINST FASCIST ATTACK ON UNIVERSITY
cafau2016@gmail.com