Kids miss school to join Jamia stir

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 18

Six-year-old Tahura Khan, sitting outside Jamia Millia Islamia University, was attempting to imitate her mother in chorus, unmindful of the fact that two Sikhs from Punjab have joined them in solidarity against the police crackdown.

Tahura would end up raising her hand, shouting “Inqilab Zindabad” in a gathering of about 200 protesters. And in no time, she was joined by more girls of her age.

“We stand by our brothers and sisters in their fight. We express our solidarity with the students who were injured,” said Jabarjang Singh, who has come from Bathinda to support the protesting students by providing them with food during the day. Outside Gate No. 7 of the university, there’s no dearth of support for protesters. One of the protesters, Mohammad Yusuf, who was carrying his four-year-old son on his shoulders holding a placard opposing the CAA, said: “The government cannot cripple the future of our next generation by sidelining us.”

As the protest led by Jamia students entered the sixth day, several children joined the stir. Yusuf, 12, missed his school for his brother, a Jamia student who was allegedly beaten up by cops on Sunday. He wore a badge on the chest that read: ‘We love our constitution — No CAA-NRC’. Too young to decipher the notion of what he adorned, Yusuf could only tell that his brothers were beaten up on the campus.

Moheem, an alumnus of Jamia who was accompanied by his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, said: “My child should learn the struggles of today to prepare for tomorrow.”