I would never restrain myself from writing about Najeeb Ahmed due to two reasons, first I could have been in his place and could’ve shared the same fate and second because after reading, listening and fighting for him made me his immediate acquaintance to fight for him. Probably this case would’ve been the first instance where two people became friends after the later died. Such is the relation I share with Najeeb Ahmed.
I remember the first time I heard about a news that said that a Muslim boy is beaten up by the ABVP, a far-right Indian group which sees its icon in a rationalist Indian thinker who totally stood for a different cause then what his followers today have made out of him. The news was not new for me. The group ever since its inception is famous for beating up people who cannot second its ideology. The news that followed since become gruesome for the nation.
I in my undergraduate was inspired to study at JNU for my Masters. JNU is famous among the Humanities and Social Science students as the adobe for their higher studies and research. Almost everybody dreams to study at JNU and applies for it. Famous for its critical thinking and standing for the depressed and subjugated, I too was ambitious to study there. The news came at a time when it wasn’t more than a year I would appear for the JNU entrance examinations.
The news of Najeeb disappearing from the campus was frightening and shocking. Initially, people felt hopeful that he would come out from a thin air and would narrate the tale of the ordeal. But the days turned into months and months give way for a year and then two, but Najeeb was nowhere to be found. We knew that he was killed. He remains disappeared while his murderers are roaming free at the same campus.
A close acquaintance of mine at the campus narrates how the JNU teachers association wasn’t interested in taking strict actions. My acquaintance had to shout at one of the teacher’s association meetings over the lack of response from the teachers. The Students union ruled by the progressive organised protest march and reduced the demand for his justice to slogans, the best thing they are capable of doing. the Students Union of the university got an agenda to remain in power for the next year. The ABVP group also got limelight as a successful body doing what they stand for. The immediate and the ultimate loss came upon Najeeb’s mother and his family and upon every Muslim youth in the country who wished to study at the university.
The event became a symbol of loss for standing against the oppression. The event became a symbol of fate for every Muslim youth who aspire to reach an educational institution of high repute and wish to exercise his rights as an equal citizen. For me, it became a reminder for speaking against the ruling right-wing government or the majoritarian politics which goes on in the country.
I participated in the protest at the Delhi Police Headquarters. The protest was attended by very few students from the SIO and JNU. The president of the JNU Student’s Union was there to restrain the boys and girls from getting aggressive and to pacify the crowd. I learnt many lessons from these entire set of episodes, which would remain with me throughout my life.
The disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed still bears the wound at my heart. After hearing about him through my friends as he lived in AMU for a while, his mother and my acquaintance at JNU made Najeeb one amongst us. There were more causes of us being similar in every sense. We both were Muslims, I wanted to study at JNU while he once dreamed similarly like me. We both carry our identity along, which is more visible to the other than us. Najeeb’s incident would have an everlasting impact which will remain in our subconscious and continue to haunt us.
The Other 