At IIT-Bombay, a talk on ‘democracy against caste’

“It is the cruel truth of Indian society that democracy has failed to give proper shelter to lower caste folks within the framework of democratic governance,” Gautam said while referring to the July 2016 flogging case in Una, Gujarat, where seven members of a Dalit family were assaulted by a cow vigilante group.

As a part of the programme, the forum will host lectures either by a faculty or student each day on the ideals enshrined in the Preamble that says India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic that secures justice, liberty, equality to all the citizens and promotes fraternity among the people.

Since January 6, students, faculty members, staff and campus residents have been assembling on the institute’s campus every evening to form human chains. The protests have seen discussion on myriad topics such as campus violence, problems with Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register for Citizens, fee hikes, institutional discrimination and curbing of dissent.