New Era: The real protest story
On Tuesday morning, little did office-goers and daily commuters know that Hughes Road was going to be the site of a sit-down strike. Hundreds of angry parents and students of 78-year-old New Era School squatted across the road to protest the Birla management’s order asking students to shift to a new school building on D N Road. “How can you expect students to attend classes in a building that has prostitutes standing outside, two dilapidated buildings next to it and shops on the first floor?” asked furious parents. “They told us the Hughes Road building would fall down any day, but they are ready to open an IGCSE school it it?”
In their blue checked uniforms, schoolchildren from classes I to X sat on the road, umbrellas at the ready, all through the morning and afternoon. They shouted slogans and held up placards for the television cameras that had gathered. But as the hours passed, the kids began to amuse themselves by playing football on the traffic-free roads, throwing paper-plate frisbees on the Kemp’s Corner flyover and painting in the colouring books. They were regularly replenished by crates of food — bananas, dhokla and farsaan. Their parents sat cross-legged on the road. The posters they held up read: `Now we know what hell is’ and `If your children were in this school what would you do?’
Fed up with the education department’s tardiness in giving a decision on where the school should be situated, parents met at the nearby August Kranti Maidan—where Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India movement—late on Monday night and decided to block the road the next morning. “They (the management) don’t understand Gandhi so we had to extend the satyagraha and block this VIP road,” said a protester. Ex-students, former teachers, students and parents started collecting outside the school from 8 am.
“The CM promised to take action on Monday but he didn’t. We’ve been fighting legally since the last eight months and now are fed up of the system not giving justice,” said an angry parent Nirav Shah.
Justifying the block, students said, “We allowed ambulances and emergency cases to pass.” They said they were sick of staying home and studying on their own for two months. “It has affected us psychologically now. We just can’t concentrate on studying because we are under so much pressure,” said standard ten student Rushil Bhayani who is worried about his SSC exam.
Sitting with a group of mothers was Sharmila Thackeray, wife of MNS head Raj Thackeray. “As a mother of two children, I know exactly how these parents feel,” she said. BJP MLA for South Mumbai Mangal Prabhat Lodha who went on a fast last week was also present. “Lakshmi has taken over the temple of Saraswati,” said a parent.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Himanshu Roy and Joint commissioner (law and order) KL Prasad visited the site in the afternoon. Roy asked parents to vacate the road. “As a responsible officer, I am asking you to act as responsible parents and citizens. How can we be as good as the Chinese then?” he asked.
By 4 pm, one-lane traffic was allowed to flow towards North Mumbai. “When one road is blocked they can use another, but where do we go?” asked a teary eyed mother.
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