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AISHE GHOSH :
'' 'INDIA'S STUDENT HEROIC' ''
''INDIA IS A GERMANY IN THE MAKING'' : this great daughter of the world, hero Aishe Ghosh says with a smile. And that The World Student Society certifies to be 100% true.
Ever since modern India was envisioned, a fundamental question has been how Hindu-oriented it should be, given that the population, about 80 percent Hindu, has long fostered a dizzying array of different cultures, including a Muslim minority that, at 200 million people, would on its own be one of the largest Muslim nations in the world.
Mr. Modi has taken a clear position, pushing a state of divisive Hindu nationalist policies that play quiet well with a large segment of society but have deeply worried minorities and progressives.
Since Mr. Modi's re-election in May, his government has plowed ahead with a contentious citizenship review in northeastern India widely seen as a test run for nationwide attempt to identify and marginalize Muslim families. In August he summarily deleted the statehood of Kashmir, which had been India's only Muslim-majority state.
Under a highway bridge in New Delhi, where a large protest had shut down several lanes of traffic, a coterie of veteran dissidents took turns speaking :
Men with shaggy beards, singers strumming guitars, social activists so impassioned that spit flew from their wet lips.
But a jolt of electricity passed through the crowd when a slight woman - younger, smaller and more vulnerable looking than anyone else - stepped up the mic. She carried no notes. She wore a bandage on her forehead. Her arm was in a cast.
''Many people ask me whether I'm scared,'' she began. ''And I tell them how can I be scared?'' People nodded their heads, seeming to follow her words carefully.
She wasn't frightened of Amit Shah, the home minister, she said, or Narendra Modi, the domineering prime minister who sent India down a Hindu nationalist path.
''Even of you beat us, we won't step back,'' she thundered. ''Long Live the revolution.'' The crowd roared.
The biggest and most energized protests India has witnessed in a generation are sweeping the country and one young woman has been thrust to the fore : Aishe Ghosh.
Ever since modern India was envisioned, a fundamental question has been how Hindu-oriented it should be, given that the population, about 80 percent Hindu, has long fostered a dizzying array of different cultures, including a Muslim minority that, at 200 million people, would on its own be one of the largest Muslim nations in the world.
Mr. Modi has taken a clear position, pushing a state of divisive Hindu nationalist policies that play quiet well with a large segment of society but have deeply worried minorities and progressives.
Since Mr. Modi's re-election in May, his government has plowed ahead with a contentious citizenship review in northeastern India widely seen as a test run for nationwide attempt to identify and marginalize Muslim families. In August he summarily deleted the statehood of Kashmir, which had been India's only Muslim-majority state.
Under a highway bridge in New Delhi, where a large protest had shut down several lanes of traffic, a coterie of veteran dissidents took turns speaking :
Men with shaggy beards, singers strumming guitars, social activists so impassioned that spit flew from their wet lips.
But a jolt of electricity passed through the crowd when a slight woman - younger, smaller and more vulnerable looking than anyone else - stepped up the mic. She carried no notes. She wore a bandage on her forehead. Her arm was in a cast.
''Many people ask me whether I'm scared,'' she began. ''And I tell them how can I be scared?'' People nodded their heads, seeming to follow her words carefully.
She wasn't frightened of Amit Shah, the home minister, she said, or Narendra Modi, the domineering prime minister who sent India down a Hindu nationalist path.
''Even of you beat us, we won't step back,'' she thundered. ''Long Live the revolution.'' The crowd roared.
The biggest and most energized protests India has witnessed in a generation are sweeping the country and one young woman has been thrust to the fore : Aishe Ghosh.
Earlier that month, while leading a peaceful demonstration on her university campus, Ms. Ghosh was attacked by Hindu nationalist goons. After they cracked her in the head with the iron bar and thrashed her body, images of her blood-stained face were instantly beamed nationwide.
But it was the photograph taken two days later that etched her into the Indian psyche : It showed Ms. Ghosh, 25, staring straight into the camera, her head wrapped in a doughnut of white medical tape, but her hair wild and her eyes radiating a resolve that seemed indestructible.
''Every protest has a face,'' said Vidit Panchal, a young doctor who traveled across India last week to meet her.
Ms. Ghosh is that face.
The product of politically active parents from West Bengal, Ms. Ghosh was a talented painting student before entering university to study politics. Last fall, she was elected president of the student body, at one of India's most prestigious schools, Jawaharlal University, a bastion of anti-Modi dissent.
Even in the weeks before she was attacked by the gang of Mr. Modi's supporters, Ms. Ghosh was marching in protests, coordinating strikes and recruiting followers - in essence, galvanizing the resistance. Now, she is being invited everywhere to speak.
''Professors have been writing mails to us saying that you should be going to the protests because protests teach you more than I can teach you in the four walls of the classroom,'' Ms. Ghosh said, clearly excited by all this.
''We have politicized so many people. It gives me so much pride.''
The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on India and the state of the world, continues. The World Students Society thanks authors Hari Kumar and Jeffrey Gettleman.
With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Secular-India, and then the world.
See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:
''' Opposition & Movement '''
But it was the photograph taken two days later that etched her into the Indian psyche : It showed Ms. Ghosh, 25, staring straight into the camera, her head wrapped in a doughnut of white medical tape, but her hair wild and her eyes radiating a resolve that seemed indestructible.
''Every protest has a face,'' said Vidit Panchal, a young doctor who traveled across India last week to meet her.
Ms. Ghosh is that face.
The product of politically active parents from West Bengal, Ms. Ghosh was a talented painting student before entering university to study politics. Last fall, she was elected president of the student body, at one of India's most prestigious schools, Jawaharlal University, a bastion of anti-Modi dissent.
Even in the weeks before she was attacked by the gang of Mr. Modi's supporters, Ms. Ghosh was marching in protests, coordinating strikes and recruiting followers - in essence, galvanizing the resistance. Now, she is being invited everywhere to speak.
''Professors have been writing mails to us saying that you should be going to the protests because protests teach you more than I can teach you in the four walls of the classroom,'' Ms. Ghosh said, clearly excited by all this.
''We have politicized so many people. It gives me so much pride.''
The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on India and the state of the world, continues. The World Students Society thanks authors Hari Kumar and Jeffrey Gettleman.
With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Secular-India, and then the world.
See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:
''' Opposition & Movement '''
Good Night and God Bless
SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless
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