इतना भी मत डराओ कि डर ही खत्म हो जाए।

Don’t frighten people so much that they stop being afraid altogether.

The massive crowds that came on to the streets of central Delhi on July 20 certainly proved the truth of that aphorism.

If there were any apprehensions that Sonam Wangchuk’s dialled down expectations from the government would dampen the enthusiasm of protestors ready to march to parliament, they were quickly dispelled.  

Reaching close to the Jantar Mantar protest site at 8:30 am, half an hour before the stipulated starting time of the march, it became quickly clear that the thousands of young people gathering there and on the streets nearby were not bothered with the nuances of Wangchuk’s demands or even with what was being said from the Cockroach Janata Party’s stage.

They had come to march to parliament and register their protest against a government that they knew had stopped caring about them (if it, in fact, ever did).

I tried to enter the protest site that I had frequented almost daily for the past one week and found it impossible to get even within 300 metres of it, so crowded was it.

A young college student holding a sign that read “We want BJP out” said he has attempted the NEET exam twice said, “I am here with my fellow students because we are fed up of all the scams.’

A protester in New Delhi on July 20. Photo: Rohit Kumar.

I asked him if he was afraid of what might happen today, he said, “Why should we be afraid? We are here protesting peacefully.“ 

I reminded him of the government’s dubious track record with peaceful protests and he said,”Sometimes you just have to take a risk and I want to remind my fellow students to keep fighting for their rights and not give up. Jai Hind!”

Another college student who did not wish to be videoed said, “The resignation of our education minister is only the starting point. The real culprit is a system which has ceased to take accountability for anything! We as kids have through enough entrance exams and unemployment issues that we know our voice should matter! To my follow students, I want to say, Wake up and raise your voice.”

The word “accountability” came up so many times during the day, I lost count. 

Priyanshu, a B.Tech student, soaked to the skin by rain that had just finished, put his point  across succinctly, “If students are suffering, you cannot expect a country to develop!”

A short distance away I met a young woman who reminded me that I had met her at a farmers’ rally in the capital in 2018 when she had just passed out of high school. Anushka, who........

© The Wire