Original: K A Chhaji
Translation: Dudulmani Sharma
I refused to be swept up in the frenzy surrounding Sonam Wangchuk from the start. Many wondered why I did not attend the conference.
i amMany have also questioned why Rahul Gandhi was not seen on the same stage with Wangchuk.
i amI remained silent because I learned a lesson from India’s recent political history. That is education‘L: No movement should be completely abandoned to artificially created ‘saviors’ (messiahs).
i amToday, my suspicions are even stronger.
i amHowever, this is purely my personal opinion. This is my political analysis of recent events.
i amI feel students are cheated.
i amThis movement was never about Sonam Wangchuk. It was not about any single person. It was a movement of thousands of youth who came to Delhi with high hopes.
i amThey will be beaten‘l will be dragged‘l They will be humiliated‘l They will be reprimanded in various ways‘L, to insult‘l
They bravely faced police brutality and threats because they believed they were fighting for the future of every student in this country.
i amSome traveled hundreds of kilometers. Some have disobeyed their parents and joined the movement. Some even bet for their jobs.
But these are footnotes in someone’s well-planned political drama‘He didn’t come to say.
i amThen came the decision to break the fast.
i amYes, everyone has the right to decide to end their hunger strike. But what will actually change for students?‘L, I have the right to question him: decisive victory a‘In?i amSpecific assurances of solutions to the core issues for which these youth were struggling a‘In? If these questions remain, then on what basis will the breaking of the hunger strike be celebrated as a victory?
i amI am even more saddened by the message this decision sends to the students who are still protesting in Yantar-Mantar. They believed it was a coordinated fight. They wanted complete transparency. They wanted a leadership that stayed with them to the end, not one that chose another path for itself.
i amHistory has made me deeply skeptical of individualist movements.
i amI have not forgotten about Anna Hazar. Millions of Indians participated in this movement believing that it would bring about a qualitative change in the political character of India. But what happened next took Indian politics in a completely opposite direction than many thought‘l
Out of that movement emerged Arvind Kejriwal, whose political decisions ultimately only weakened the main democratic opposition at crucial moments. Whether one agrees or not, that experience has taught me to question every movement centered around a ‘hero’.
i amThat is why I have never accepted the attempt to make Sonam Wangchuk the sole and uncontested identity of this struggle. A democratic movement depends on the decision of one person‘B can’t. When this happens, thousands of people who have poured out their faith are disappointed.
i amSo the questions facing Abhijit Deepke, Saurabh Das and Ashutosh Ranka are simple.
i amWhat will be the response to the students who are beaten on the street?
i amWhat do you say to those who are still protesting there?‘b?
i amWhat is your answer to those who think it is a collective struggle and we will fight together in the end?
i amThey are not just any symbols. They are not a picture. They are not a hashtag. They are young people whose lives, hopes and futures are at stake in this struggle.
i amFor me, the movement gained true national momentum only when Rahul Gandhi clearly stood by the students and raised their voices across the country. Rather than a campaign by a few activists, it became a massive democratic demand for accountability and justice. The main attraction was back on the students, y‘It always should have been.
i amIt’s my mistake‘b can be used. Time will tell the final judgment.
i amBut I refuse to worship individuals. I don’t believe in star-led movements. Recognize that individuals who come in as heroes and leave as heroes build the movement‘I refuse to do that.
i amMovements are built by ordinary people who do not surrender.
i amI have never trusted a lot of famous faces. My faith was always in the nameless students standing in the rain, bruises on their bodies and hope in their chests.
i amLong after these ‘saviors’ have left the stage, history remembers only those nameless men.