BANGALORE: A protest was held by the students of multiple prominent colleges in Bangalore on December 17th. The protest that was supposed to begin from Puttana Chetty Town Hall had to be shifted to the Kanteerva Stadium Entrance due to intrusion by the police at Town Hall. Teresa Braggs, and Anahita Ananth, the initial organisers of the protest were picked up from Townhall and detained at around 12 pm, which was as soon as they reached the protest site.

“Anahita and I arrived at Townhall at 11.15 a.m., and were joined by Suhas who was already at the venue. A North Karnataka farmers’ protest was going on there at that point of time. We were making conversation with the farmers to find out what their protest was about. I also spoke to a police personnel asking how long that protest would take to wrap up. In less than five minutes of us reaching Town Hall, the inspector from JC Road Station walked up to us and identified me by my name,” said Teresa, giving a first hand account of what happened with her.

He asked me to go with him. We tried asking on what grounds but got no response. I asked Anahita to record the interaction and call our lawyers. Lady cops heckled with us and didn’t allow us to use our phones. When they saw Anahita and Suhas try to make calls, we were pushed into a Hoysala vehicle. Our phones were forcefully snatched from our hands before we could inform our lawyers. We were taken to the JC Road SJ Park station and the inspector refused to give us our phones back or give us a reason as to why we were being held. He (the inspector) then left to go to the protest area once again and we were told that he’d be back in ten minutes. He didn’t return until 1.45 p.m,” she said.

“Around 12.30 p.m., six other students were brought in a van. Their phones were taken away too but we managed to get a word out for the students to alert the lawyers. By 1 p.m., our lawyers, classmates, and professors had arrived but we still did not have access to phones. We were being forced to sign blank sheets but resisted. Towards the end the inspector also pushed for us to sign a bond agreeing to not participate or be seen at any protest. We resisted and did not end up signing anything. We went back to join the protest at Freedom Park at 4 p.m,” Teresa said.

“Political party representatives said they could get us out quicker but the detained students refused their help. We still maintain no affiliation with any political party,” she added.


Students and working professionals chanted slogans and held up placards criticising the central government's decision to enact the CAA.The students also protested against the police action on students of Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University on Sunday. "We are here to highlight the unfair CAA which seeks to exclude Muslims. We are also here to protest the events in Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University on Sunday".

“The people of North East have always been left out of the decision making process. However, the CAA majorly affects the North East. Why was our opinion taken into account? Speaking as an Assamese, we don't want any illegal immigrants in our state. That's it. We don't care what religion they practice, we just don't want more people in an already impoverished state, hit by floods every year. If the Government was to be believed, the sentiment behind the CAA is to help refugees. Then why leave out Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal? Why leave out Muslims? And why ignore the lakhs of people in the NE states who have been asking for the Centre to take notice of them , over the year? If humanity is the sentiment behind the CAA, then why weren't the voices of ethnic communities living in the NE taken into account?” said Priyambadda Datta, a student from the North East.


“I’m here to be the voice for the voiceless. I’m here to fight for the chaiwalas, the people in the suburbs, the ones who don’t have the privilege to protest.”, said a Civil Services student who wished to remain anonymous. “We, as a country, have been very complacent in the last few years. From Aadhar, to Data Protection act. We’re losing our personal freedom slowly.” they continued. When asked what their views were on the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) as a Civil Services student, they said, “ The language of the bill just mentions how it is going to help the people. The legislative implications of the bill are much more than that. It is very important that the bill be read in context with the NRC. The problem with this is that when CAA goes to the Supreme Court in the near future, NRC wouldn’t have been implemented throughout the country. And the legislative intent of the CAA without the NRC is constitutional. We are dealing with people who are extremely smart in their malice.”


The protest started with slogans and chanting, but the participants were asked to keep it down. It soon turned into a silent march to Freedom Park. On reaching Freedom Park, however, the protestors burst out with slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Students se jo takrayega, mitti mein mil jayega’. Within thirty minutes of sloganeering, the protestors were shut down again with a warning of delaying the release of the 11 students who were earlier detained if the protest continued.

The protestors, however, sat in solidarity at Freedom Park until those detained were released. The crowd sang songs of freedom, and saving the world to establish the peaceful nature of the protest.

The students were released around 4 p.m. Cheering and chanting filled the atmosphere as they arrived soon after.


“The people of North East have always been left out of the decision making process. However, the CAA majorly affects the North East. Why was our opinion taken into account? Speaking as an Assamese, we don't want any illegal immigrants in our state. That's it. We don't care what religion they practice, we just don't want more people in an already impoverished state, hit by floods every year. If the Government was to be believed, the sentiment behind the CAA is to help refugees. Then why leave out Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal? Why leave out Muslims? And why ignore the lakhs of people in the NE states who have been asking for the Centre to take notice of them , over the year? If humanity is the sentiment behind the CAA, then why weren't the voices of ethnic communities living in the NE taken into account?” said Priyambadda Datta, a student from the North East.

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HARSHITA CHHATLANI