Bajrang Dal, student’s collective clash over Malala, Anne Frank books in Ahmedabad; Here is the reason
Members of a student collective were allegedly attacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Ahmedabad while reading books, including those by Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank
Members of a student collective were allegedly attacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Ahmedabad while peacefully reading books, including those by Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank. The incident occurred as a protest against a school's decision to remove these books from its reading list due to pressure from right-wing groups. The student collective has filed an FIR against the Bajrang Dal, underscoring concerns about freedom of expression and the right to read.
Members of a student collective were allegedly attacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Ahmedabad while peacefully reading books, including those by Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank. The incident occurred as a protest against a school's decision to remove these books from its reading list due to pressure from right-wing groups. The student collective has filed an FIR against the Bajrang Dal, underscoring concerns about freedom of expression and the right to read.
Members of a student collective were allegedly attacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Ahmedabad while peacefully reading books, including those by Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank. The incident occurred as a protest against a school's decision to remove these books from its reading list due to pressure from right-wing groups. The student collective has filed an FIR against the Bajrang Dal, underscoring concerns about freedom of expression and the right to read.
Members of a student collective group were allegedly assaulted by members of the Bajrang Dal in Ahmedabad for reading books written by Pakistani author Malala and Anne Frank on Tuesday.
About 50 members of the Student and Youth Collective (SYCA) had gathered at AUDA garden Vastrapur on Thursday evening to read in protest after a private school was forced to remove the two books from their compulsory reading list. The move from the school came after they were swayed to protest by the Bajrang Dal and members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad over the books.
According to Savan Zalariya, a member of the SYCA who spoke to the Indian Express, they were gathered to read peacefully when they were attacked. “We were peacefully reading in the garden, and these were not just books by Yousafzai and Anne Frank but also Bhagat Singh, Che Guevara and many others when some 30 people came armed with iron rods and sticks and began to attack us. At least six of us were injured.”
An FIR was registered against the right-wing group by the SYCA.
The members of SYCA were reading the books ‘I Am Malala’ by Pakistani author and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ by Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank, to show support for the Anand Niketan School Shilaj, in Ahmedabad.
At around 6:30, a group of 30 to 40 people who claimed to be from the Bajrang Dal and the VHP came with “baseball bats, wood and iron lathis, ” one of the SYCA members said.
In a post on X, the Bajrang Dal stated, “An incident came to light at the Anand Niketan School in Bopal, Ahmedabad, where a book by Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai was being taught to children. The Bajrang Dal protested against the book—authored by Malala, who has opposed India’s stance on the Kashmir issue—prompting the school to discontinue its use. Subsequently, certain Congress leaders and members of the so-called ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ gathered to demand that the book be taught again. When the Bajrang Dal learned of this pro-Pakistan mindset, they first tried to reason with them; when that failed, they conveyed the message in the “Bajrangi” style.
Members of the Bajrang Dal were then detained by police.
The incident at the school began on August 11, after parents allegedly discovered a piece of glass in a snack served at the school canteen. The parents' protest over the incident soon turned into a religious confrontation.
The parents were soon joined by activists from the the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, who alleged that the school was forcing students to read "books from other religions".
The protesters then accused the school of discontinuing morning prayers and of discriminating against students from a certain religion.
The school subsequently terminated one of its curriculum designers and was fined Rs 10,000 for the canteen operations. The chairman of the school, Kamal Mangal, said that the the books were never part of the compulsory curriculum but were part of an optional Book Club intended to encourage reading.