'They fear us because we dare to speak up': JNU refuses to be cowed down

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." It has been three days since Anisur Rahman (name changed) has visited his home in Delhi's Madanpur Khadar. With bloodshot eyes, he has been constantly checking his Facebook account. "The police can arrest Umar Khalid anytime. Oh, and my mother called me three times. I will call her later," he says.

Like Rahman, many Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students have accepted the campus as their home for the past couple of days. While I was busy exploring the campus, a few students had already woken up. It was a chilly winter morning and Riya, a 24-year-old MA student from the Delhi University (DU), was looking for a bonfire to keep herself warm.

"We know how it feels to be in the shoes of Rohith Vemula. It was the coldest time in Hyderabad when Rohith and his four friends slept on mattresses strewn on the footpaths through their 12 days of non-violent protest. The only wall between the wind and Rohith Vemula was the posters of Ambedkar and Savitribai Phule," says Riya, walking away, finally finding a group of men and women around a small burning log.

On the evening of January 17, Rohith was found hanging in one of the hostel rooms at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU). And before he took his own life, he left a suicide note, which subsequently became a symbol of the institution's failure.

Rahman has finally got hold of the chai he was looking for. "Ek cigarette chahiye. Do din se bahar nahi gaya to mila hi nahi (I need a cigarette. Haven't gone out of the campus since the last two days, so couldn't get hold of it)," he adds while carrying on the conversation.

"Tell me what's the difference between the MHRD (ministry of human resources development) putting pressure on the University of Hyderabad to take action against Rohith Vemula and the home ministry sending the police to arrest students disrupting the 'peaceful' environment in the country?" he says, while taking a puff from the bidi which his friend just got for him.

He continues, "They fear us because we dare to speak up. And this will not stop until there is a change."

Umar Khalid, along with four other students, returned to the JNU campus on Sunday night. While addressing the crowd around 8pm, Khalid pointed out that he was labelled an "anti-national" while he was away, but is ready to surrender to the police. It's still not clear when Khalid might be arrested but students inside and outside the JNU campus are gearing up for the police's next move.