Long before the current protests against citizenship laws, there was the Nav Nirman movement in the 1970s. These were fiery, often violent protests that tore through Gujarat. Over 100 were killed, thousands injured, buses were torched, public property destroyed and the state government toppled.
At the heart of the Nav Nirman agitation, triggered by students enraged by a hike in college mess fees, were the Jana Sangh, RSS and ABVP. And among the protesters was a young activist named Narendra Modi. These protests were seen as an expression of the people’s will and brought down a government.
But today, four decades later, the largely peaceful anti-CAA-NRC protests are in danger of being delegitimised altogether. In the week of Gandhi’s death anniversary, we Read More
