Students' unions unite to expand protests across Mumbai

Students at a protest gathering at Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Students on Wednesday remained undeterred by the suspension of #OccupyGateway and organised several protest gathering across the city to continue to raise their voice against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the attack on students at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

'You can't suppress us'
They assembled in small groups at different places, but they all had the same message for the establishment - whenever you suppress one protest, 10 more people will stand up for the cause.

Around 150 people at Mumbai University's Kalina campus held placards and shouted slogans against the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Ria Modak, 19-year-old New York resident

The call for the gathering at Kalina was made by nine students' unions, including Maharashtra Students Union Progressive Students Union, All India Students Federation of India and Chhatra Bharati.

A holiday for the cause
One among them was Ria Modak, a 19-year-old student of social studies and a resident of New York, who has not missed a single protest since arriving in the city on January 1 to visit her relatives. "I am here for holiday, but this is clearly far more important. I want to stand up against laws that discriminate on religion. And what happened in JNU is certainly not acceptable," said Ria.

At the Students' Union of Tata Institute of Social Sciences over 50-60 people gathered in the evening to "discuss the current situation [in the country] and also brainstorm ideas for future plan of action," said Tawnsuanlal, TISS students' union vice president.

Close to 30-40 students and faculty members at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, sat outside the School of Management in solidarity with the JNU students who were brutally attacked by a mob. Several peaceful demonstrations were also held at other colleges in the city.