Street protest fu­els street art. While speak­ers ad­dress Jamia from a make-shift dais to at­ten­tive Jamia stu­dents, con­cerned cit­i­zens and Mus­lim women of all age-groups at the Baba-e Maulana Kalam Azad Gate of the Jamia Milia Is­lamia Uni­ver­sity, a ded­i­cated band of artists young artists are colour­ing the walls with witty Graf­fiti. While vis­it­ing Jamia, these car­toons mock­ing the gov­ern­ment of the day are un­miss­able on the streets and on the Uni­ver­sity walls and the di­vid­ing space be­tween roads. WSN pre­sents this unique can­vas of protest for those who can­not make it to Jamia and Sha­heen Bagh.

LIFE-SIZE IN­DIA PRIME MIN­IS­TER NAREN­DRA MODI and his Home Min­is­ter Amit Shah in var­i­ous hues and shades beckon you while you walk up to Gate no. 7 to ex­press sol­i­dar­ity with the pro­tes­tors at Jamia Milia Uni­ver­sity in Delhi.

Young girls and boys on pre­car­i­ous wooden stair­cases with a bag­ful of colours are paint­ing the town red. Their car­toons make you think. The large can­vass of art on the streets be­speaks of the anger brew­ing in young minds.  All the time that they would be spend­ing in whiling away in the can­teen sip­ping tea and cof­fee to beat the bit­ing cold is now spent in learn­ing the ropes of pol­i­tics through op­po­si­tion to the di­vi­sive poli­cies of the Bharatiya Janata Party gov­ern­ment. They are learn­ing the nu­ances of In­dian pol­i­tics through art. They are por­tray­ing the gen­e­sis of the prob­lem through an eas­ily un­der­stand­able art form.

When art im­i­tates life and life takes to art to ex­press thoughts, ideas and di­ver­gent views, the rev­o­lu­tion be­gins to take shape.  Ac­ri­mony and anger are dis­solved in the colours which bring out the con­tours of the protest and what the young think the fu­ture should be.

As the crowds swell, so does the graf­fiti. The painters are un­tir­ing and space seems to be a con­straint now. Hope you get the thou­sands of words that each of these car­toons ex­presses.

Britain’s guerilla street artist Ban­sky in his au­to­bi­o­graphic art-ex­hibit book -Wall and Piece, says, “Bus stops are far more in­ter­est­ing and use­ful places to have art than in mu­se­ums. Graf­fiti has more chance of mean­ing some­thing or chang­ing stuff than any­thing in­doors. Graf­fiti has been used to start rev­o­lu­tions, stop wars, and gen­er­ally is the voice of peo­ple who aren’t lis­tened to. Graf­fiti is one of those few tools you have if you have al­most noth­ing.”

The Jamia Graf­fiti is call­ing you: Stand up against op­pres­sion. Stand up for Jus­tice. Stand up for dis­sent. Stand up for your rights. Stand up against di­vi­sive forces. Stand up to fas­cism. Stand up for real democ­racy.  Stand up for rights of stu­dents. Stand up for Jamia.