Thousands of people again on the streets of Delhi calling for education reforms despite police violence on Monday
Taru had come to the protest prepared this time. In one hand was an anti-government poster and in the other was a bicycle helmet. “We need to have protection in case Delhi police beat us up again,” said the 25-year-old, who stood among her friends. “We are not scared of them and we won’t run away, no matter what they do. We’ll stay here till they listen.”
On Tuesday, central Delhi still thronged with thousands of protesters, as an unprecedented expression of dissent against the powerful ruling Narendra Modi government showed no sign of abating.
Just 24 hours earlier, more than 50,000 people took to the streets in protest, swathes of them in their late teens and early 20s, mobilised by a new youth-led political movement that calls itself the Cockroach Janta party (CJP). Their rallying call was the resignation of the education minister and for reform of a corrupt and broken education system.But what began peacefully on Monday – people fanning each other in the gruelling humidity, sharing snacks and chanting slogans – turned into scenes of brutality by the afternoon. Delhi police denied the protesters the right to march on parliament and kettled the expanding crowd into a restricted area. The internet was shut down and barricades were erected across the capital. The came the police batons and the teargas.
Police said they were responding to agitation but organisers and witnesses claimed the police carried out unprovoked attacks, including against women and children in the crowd. About 60 suffered injuries and at least one protester is on a ventilator in hospital intensive care.
“The day was so wholesome to start with, there was so much love,” said Taru. “But after 3pm the police started attacking us. They were bashing us like anything. I saw them come up and hit people on the head as they were sitting down on the pavement doing nothing. And then as we were running, they opened up teargas on us.”
Taru described the response by Delhi police – which are under central government control – as a “big mistake. Now we are more agitated than ever.”On Tuesday, the heavy hand of the Delhi police did little to keep supporters away from the historical site of Jantar Mantar in Delhi, which has become the focal point of the CJP protests over the past month. The crowds were thick and lively as they shouted slogans against the Modi government with abandon, calling for both the education minister and the prime minister to resign.
Some had travelled hundreds of miles to be there and said they intended to camp out until the government responded to the demands of the country’s millions of young people. “The government needs to understand: we are not going anywhere,” said Ranjit Verma, 23.
India’s main opposition Congress party had also seized upon the mood, calling for Modi to resign “for destroying the future of India’s youth” as it held its own protest in Delhi on Tuesday.
