Since the previous regime passed the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021 in January 2022, it is illegal to protest anywhere but in the premises of Freedom Park. The order was enacted as a suo moto Kamataka High Court public interest litigation (PIL) launched in March 2021 soughta “unobstructed vehicular traffic”. Places like Vidhana Soudha and MG Road were marked as “restricted” through the same order. Even protests in Freedom park require to be intimated to the police from the organisers’ end where the police have the power to revoke or withhold the permission to protest. This development that came under the erstwhile BJP government still continues despite this new government being voted into power for being a force that upholds constitutional rights. For many months now, there have been consistent efforts by civil society activists to conduct a dialogue with the government requesting for the restrictive order to be revoked. All such entreaties have failed to evoke a positive response from the government so farOn 2nd October, many civil society organisations and activists who have formed the coalition called the ‘Horatadaa Hakkigaagi Janandolana’ came together at the Gandhi statue at Maurya circle to perform civil disobedience by taking out a rally till the Ambedkar statue at Vidhana Soudha in defiance of this anti-people order. Hundreds of protestors were manhandled and detained by the police as the rally was about to start, sending a shockwave across the city. Ash students it is particularly important to have the right to protest, otherwise taking the demands to Freedom Park will further invisibilise the aspirations of students since the state already has a ban on student unions. Students are not allowed to express themselves, resist or question on campuses. It becomes more difficult for expression of dissent inside and outside campus spaces as democratic spaces are being clamped down.
On 2nd October, many civil society organisations and activists who have formed the coalition called the ‘Horatadaa Hakkigaagi Janandolana’ came together at the Gandhi statue at Maurya circle to perform civil disobedience by taking out a rally till the Ambedkar statue at Vidhana Soudha in defiance of this anti-people order. Hundreds of protestors were manhandled and detained by the police as the rally was about to start, sending a shockwave across the city. Ash students it is particularly important to have the right to protest, otherwise taking the demands to Freedom Park will further invisibilise the aspirations of students since the state already has a ban on student unions. Students are not allowed to express themselves, resist or question on campuses. It becomes more difficult for expression of dissent inside and outside campus spaces as democratic spaces are being clamped down.
Given this situation, under the banner of Horatadaa Hakkigaagi Janandolana, we, the following student-youth organisations – All India Students’ Association, Ambedkar Students’ Association, Bengaluru Vishwavidyanilaya Samshodhana Vidhyarthigala Okkuta, Collective, Dalit Vidyarthi Parishad, Fridays for Future (Karnataka), Students’ Islamic Organisation, St. Broseph, anda Karnataka Vidyarthi Sangathane have come together to safeguard our constitutional right to protest enshrined in Article 19 of the Indian constitution within the city. We appeal that the police order stifling our right to protest in the city be revoked immediately so that we can strengthen
the fight for our rights against all forms of social and academic injustices. We also appeal to the government to take heed of the other major issues plaguing the entire student community that are rendered practically invisible thanks to the restrictive police order.
Primary demand:
Revoke the police order restricting our right to protest in the city.
General student demands:
1. Ensure timely disbursal and hiking of scholarships.
2. Scrap all remnants of the National Education Policy, 2020 from educational institutes in Karnataka.
3. Bring back student democracy in the educational campuses of Karnataka by revoking the government order banning student unions.
4. Regulate fee hikes in public and private colleges.
5. Reject corporatisation and saffronisation of education. Uphold universal and inclusive education.
6. Extend the ambit of Right to Education act to include students till the age of 18. 7. Include criminal penalties in the Karnataka Education Act for harassment of students by educational authorities.
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