Groundxero Report | 22 Jan 2024

Even as the entire country was overwhelmed by the massive display of brute majoritarianism on the occasion of inauguration of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, in the city of Kolkata, students, right activists, social and political organisations and individuals held several protest programs denouncing the use of the state and all its institutions in propagating a religious event of the majoritarian community and thereby posing a serious threat to secular and democratic ideals enshrined in the constitution of the country.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, ABVP had planned to organise a live screening of the consecration of Ram Lalla idol at Ayodhya temple inside the Jadavpur University campus. On receiving the news, general students and student organisations have scheduled several resistance programs to counter ABVP’s attempt to vitiate the secular and democratic character of the university. The University authority claimed, a day earlier, that no such permission was granted to ABVP for live screening of the consecration at Ayodhya temple and performing rituals inside the campus.

Students started gathering in the University by morning itself to protest and resist the attempt to spread religious hatred by the saffron brigade. At around 12-12:30 pm, a group of about 40 ABVP activists, the majority of whom were outsiders, carrying saffron flags gathered at the Green Zone (near gate no. 3), and started shouting pro-Hindutva slogans. In opposition, a group of students gathered at the same spot shouting anti-fascist slogans. A confrontation took place and the pro-VC, registrar, a few professors, and students were attacked.

Meanwhile, amidst this chaos, the ABVP activists escaped from the spot. A protest rally was organised at 4 pm, in which 350-400 students participated along with a few research scholars and teaching staff. The police initially tried to prevent the rally several times but the protest finally took place.

Below is the copy of a press statement released in the name of all stakeholders of the University.

Students of Presidency University also organised a demonstration at College Street to protest propagation of majoritarian fascism through the events surrounding the inauguration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Students held a rally, holding posters and raising slogans decrying the state-sponsored religious celebrations primarily by BJP-RSS and other right-wing political organisations. The students emphasised on the significance of remembering the history of violence and Islamophobia connected with the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the utter falsehood of Hindutva politics. Concern was expressed over state legitimisation of religious fanaticism and aggression, which not only erases the history but also contradicts the fundamental values of the secular, democratic republic of India.

The rally started from within the Presidency university campus and after marching through the nearby localities, blocked the road outside the campus for a few minutes. The student protestors unequivocally condemned the present atmosphere of terror and hostility and called for collective resistance against the persecution of minorities.

Beside the students, human right, cultural and other activists also took out a protest rally inside the ongoing Kolkata book fair. About 50-60 concerned citizens, activists and writers gathered near the Little Magazine Pavilion in Kolkata Book Fair in the evening of January 22, 2024, to protest  the state-sponsored inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. While not huge in numbers by any means, the protest was meant to register a resistance narrative to the communal-fascist project of BJP-RSS. The protestors moved around the book fair ground with placards and raised slogans against the corporate backed communal politics of RSS-BJP and against state inauguration of the Ram temple over a destroyed mosque.

A huge rally was also held in the city by many democratic and left forces, individuals and intellectuals, as part of a anti-fascist Maha Sammelan at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee also held her Sanhati Rally after performing Puja at the Kalighat Temple,  visiting Garcha Gurudwara, a church and mosque in Park Circus, before culminating the rally at the Park Circus Maidan. Here she addressed the crowd attacking the BJP for its majoritarian politics, spreading disinformation against her and the Godi new channels for becoming Modi’s mouthpiece.

Cover Image courtesy Debalina