BENGALURU: About 120 students of Wipro czar’s Azim Premji University in this tech city protested against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), and condemned the violent attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students and faculty on January 5, said a student representative on Friday.
“We condemn the attempts by the right-wing fascist BJP government on passing the CAA, NPR and NRC and the violence against the students of JNU, Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University recently,” said the dissenting students” representative Pankaj Yadav in a statement to IANS here.
On Thursday, the students also condemned the city-based global software major Wipro for assisting the Assam government in implementing the NRC in the northeastern state by providing digital infrastructure.
Akin to the stand taken by some Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore students, Premji varsity students also said the dissent was not a varsity-wide position but only that representing the CAA protesting students.
In their show against CAA, the students read the preamble of the Constitution of India, followed by faculty and students” speeches in their individual capacities.
The speeches recounted stories of individuals from minority communities and the experiences of being part of nationwide anti-CAA and NRC protests.
Students also shared their experiences of being affected by discriminatory state policies as revolutionary songs such as Faiz’s “Hum Dekhenge” rent the air.
The students from the varsity’s undergraduate campus at Sarjapura in South Bengaluru sat on a lawn, carrying placards which proclaimed ”No more violence, lies, assaults. No CAA, No NRC. In solidarity with JNU and Jamia students”.
Other placards said ”Don’t aModi’fy our Constitution”, ”Omit Shah” and ”Unsecular” among others.
Azim Premji University students appealed to the private sector organisations to refrain from assisting the state in rolling out fascist projects such as NRC.
“In these unsafe times where secular campuses are being attacked, the protesting students recognise the need to reclaim the democratic spaces by asserting the right to dissent,” said the students” statement signed by 120 of them.