Protesting Jamia students clean up roads, win hearts

While the protest over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) entered fourth day at the Jamia Millia Islamia here on Tuesday, the students and locals kept on collecting the garbage thrown by the protestors and ensured that the streets outside the varsity campus remained clean.

Aaqib, a student at the University told IANS, "This is our campus and we need to keep it clean. So varsity students who are managing the crowd have decided to collect the garbage thrown by the protestors and the passers by.

"We collect the garbage from the varsity campus area where we are holding protest and then dump it in the dustbin placed at several places near the campus," he said.

Another student Faraz Khan said, "As we have to continue our stir over the CAA and the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC), we ensure that the protesting site, in front of Gate no. 7, we keep on collecting the garbage like disposable water bottles, biscuit packets, paper cut-outs, discarded posters and other stuffs like tea cup in the garbage bag and dump them in the dustbin."

Besides students, the locals also help in ensuring the cleanliness of the varsity campus area as they also contribute in collecting the garbage from here.

Asdaq, who is also protesting over CAA and NRC said that the locals have ensured that the protesting students don't go hungry.

"And every time they bring water, biscuits, biryani, fruits and juices for the protesting students," he said.

"And once the packets of such items are thrown on the road, everyone here ensure that it is collected instantly," he said, adding, "We have ensured that the traffic is also not hit in the area due to our protest."

He said that the local volunteer also ensured the traffic management in front of the varsity campus.

The students of Jamia have been protesting over the CAA since Saturday. On Sunday, the protest took a violent turn as five buses were torched. However, the Jamia Millia students refuted the claims that students were involved in violent protests.

The action of the students to clean the garbage from the protesting site also impressed the social media users, who praised them for their actions.

Javed Alam, a Twitter user wrote, "This is Jamia, this is what Jamia has ingrained in us, we follow the path of non-violence, we follow the path of not letting other littering around us and if anyone does it we clean their mess as well. Jamia students and one of my senior PhD fellow cleaning road and pavements."

"Jamia Millia Islamia students cleaning the road in front of the University after CAA protests. This is my Jamia. Jamia is an emotion and people like Babu bhai (he is PhD in International Studies, author and research associate) makes it feel like home," wrote another user Asma Rafat.

"Students of Jamia Millia University are cleaning the roads near the campus after the protest! This speaks volumes of their character. There is a reason why every major varsity is standing in solidarity with Jamia and Aligarh Muslim University. This is one!," another Twitter user said.