Confessions of a surrogate protestor

“After a while, you do feel restless. People who sit next to you are sometimes not fully aware of the cause they are protesting for or against”

Sitting at protests for long hours is not easy. One has to make compromises. For example, the second year MBA students of my college skipped their placements to protest at Jantar Mantar the Rajasthan governments’ move to seize land from our institute.  Also, enormous perseverance is needed.

The person who is leading the protest plays a crucial role in mobilising the masses. His determination can give moral support to other protestors as well. After a while, you do feel restless. People who sit next to you are sometimes not fully aware of the cause they are protesting for or against. On the other hand, the Government and its agencies try their best to break up the protest. Sometimes, they try to bribe the leader or other important persons of the movement. The intelligence agencies always keep a vigilant eye throughout the protest.

At any moment, I never felt compelled to become a part of the protest. I was always moved to fight for a good cause. I have also seen protests where people were paid to sit for long hours, but I have never been a part of any of them.

Sometimes when there is little consensus, people detach themselves, and sometimes, people from different protesting groups join you. This happened with us at Jantar Mantar, which has turned into a pilgrimage for protestors.   

The experience with the media so far has been awful as media people are not interested in covering such stories unless there is some celebrity involved. In any such protest, I believe, the youth should come forward.

Having been a part of many protests now, I know that they do work sometimes. The Government, though, is deaf to protests. I feel that if peaceful protests are not given proper attention, it will encourage violence.

The protestor is a 31-year-old assistant professor with a management college in Rajasthan.

As told to Prakash Chandra Sao

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arindam