Come And See The Students On The Streets

The protests over CAA-NRC-NPR have acted as a trigger, uniting youth across religious beliefs and communities against police atrocities and attack on freedoms, says Radheshyam Jadhav

- Radheshyam Jadhav

For the last few weeks, Aruna Thakur*, Tanmay Yadav, Shilpa Bodhi, and others are among Pune university students who are busy practicing for the Firodiya Karandak theatre competition for college students. The 45-year-old competition has been one of the ideal platforms for students to articulate their views. As students were gearing up for the competition, organizers issued a diktat.

“As per the directives issued in view of maintaining social peace and law and order, students will not be given permission to perform on sensitive subjects — HinduMuslim, Jammu and Kashmir, Article 370, any subject relating to India-Pakistan, any subject about Ram Mandir- Babri Mosque and subjects commenting on caste and religion. If any of these subjects are selected for performance, the concerned team or individual will not be considered for awards ..” the organizers stated.

This came as a shocker to theatre artistes who raised their voices and supported the students. Veteran actors Amol Palekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Jabbar Patel, and Satish Alekar, with others, voiced their protest. But for students in the ‘Oxford of East’ also called ‘ Cultural Capital of Maharashtra’, this diktat was just a continuation of what has been happening in college and university campuses for the last five years.

Issues brought to a head

“The Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) played the role of a trigger. It came as an opportunity for students to vent their suffocation in colleges and universities. Now there are restrictions on which books should be kept in book exhibitions, on what topics you should hold discussions and what programs you should organize,” says Ravi K, a university student.