Shoe Satyagraha: IIM Bengaluru defy Section 144, use footwear to register CAA protest

Several students of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) on Thursday evening protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), despite police ban and prohibition from the school's administration. M.S. Narasimhan, dean, administration of IIM-B and finance and accounting professor, sent a mail to the students at 5:52 PM on Thursday, refusing to grant permission for the protest. Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao had imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code from 6 AM on Thursday to Saturday midnight considering the strike called by social and student organisations. However, despite no permission, the protest in the management school's campus started at 7 PM, with a strength of more than 100 students.

"Section 144 (CrPc) is in force, any large gathering with a purpose of protest inside the campus is not allowed. Hence, the institute is not giving any permission for such protest," said Narasimhan to the students.

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Students perform 'shoe satyagraha'

A photograph surfaced on social media in which the Bengaluru students disobeyed both the internal and external ban by raising placards and displaying multiple pairs of footwear as a part of 'shoe satyagraha' outside the institute's main gate, to oppose the CAA. Many students also staged a sit-in protest inside the campus, near the main gate, in the presence of police and media. The students raised their glowing cell phones as part of their protest, against the CAA which grants citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Among the protesters was a student in a wheelchair.

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A section of the students and faculty failed to stop the agitating students, with an associate professor even sending a mail, that the protest has been postponed in view of the police ban order. By afternoon, students and faculty thought of a way to not violate the ban order by protesting in groups of three, against CAA and in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Ultimately, the protest was held in IIM-B, despite divided opinion among students and the administration.

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(With inputs from IANS)