India Abroad - December 30, 2011

‘India, I see blood in your hands’
Ronid Chingangbam, student of physics and protest singer, has come to embody
the angst that envelopes Northeast India
“Among the activists and concerned citizens in New Delhi, the beginning of 2011 was all about demanding the release of Dr Binayak Sen. In
January, civil society groups put together a protest event at
Jantar Mantar. I sang my songs like India, I See Blood In
Your Hands and Free Binayak Sen.

Ronid Chingangbam
Blood in Your Hands Together. He was kind enough to play
the bass and sang the last verse along with my lousy vocals.
Later again we re-recorded his voice in one of my band’s
songs called Eche (For Irom Sharmila).
My connection with the Delhi University group got clos-
er last year when they were protesting against the
Commonwealth Games, mainly against the eviction of stu-
dents from hostels. I co wrote a song with Professor Tara
Basumatry of Kirori Mal College about how hypocritical
Delhi is, airbrushing India’s poverty to impress foreigners.
The song went: Heart-shaped balloons in traffic jams fade
away as they bring their dirty games/It is not democracy it
is a demon gone crazy.

Ronid Chingangbam, originally from Manipur, is a PhD
student of physics in Delhi who sings with his band Imphal
Talkies N The Howlers
‘We will wait another ten years to
get jobs, but it would be in the
state of Telangana’
Channa Reddy, a student at Hyderabad’s Osmania
University on pro-Telangana protests
“Ihave 58 cases registered against me for participating in pro- Telangana protests.

We think it is essential that we fend for
ourselves, as we cannot trust our own
leaders from the region. I fasted six times
and have been jailed eight times in con-
nection with this protest.
I know that students have
suffered the most due to it.
We have missed classes and
now lengthy syllabuses
need to be completed with-
in a certain time frame.
Our future looks uncertain
as we lag behind in our
studies. Our parents have
been supportive and we
will wait another ten years
to get jobs, but it would be
in the state of Telangana.”

Channa Reddy
As told to Vicky
Nanjappa
‘Till Annaji succeeds I have no choice’
Jalandhar resident Deepak Thakur attended the
anti-graft protest in New Delhi
“Central Reserve Police Force officials rejected my application because my height did not match their requirements. Strangely, they
checked my height when I cleared the first four rounds of
the selection process. They could have screened me out
then. But they didn’t.

As told to Prasanna D Zore

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