Shehla Rashid Shora

Shehla Rashid Shora

Shehla Rashid Shora - April 2016
Native name Shehla Rashid Shora
Born Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Nationality Indian
Education Jawaharlal Nehru University
Occupation Student
Political party All India Students Association (AISA)

Shehla Rashid Shora is a prominent student activist of India and an emerging Left leader.[1][2][3][4] She is a member of the All India Students Association (AISA). Shora came into limelight after the JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on charges of sedition over the JNU sedition controversy in February 2016, leading the student agitation calling for the release of Kumar and other activists. During this period, her leadership qualities were widely hailed, by her supporters and opponents alike.[5][6][7] Even before the arrest of JNUSU President, she was described by one interviewer as dedicated and fearless.[8] In many of her interviews, she has been repeatedly quoted as saying that the focus should be on the issue and not on her personality.

She is one of the few Kashmiri women who are vocal about the human rights situation in Kashmir, particularly for ensuring justice to minor undertrials and has been active since 2010 when she was part of organising a youth leadership programme in Kashmir.[9] A Kashmiri magazine, Kashmir Scenario, in 2013, ran a powerful and in-depth interview of her, documenting her activism related to Internet rights, against acid attacks and for human rights in Kashmir.[10] She was at the forefront of demanding legal reform of cyber laws since 2012 following Shaheen Dhada's arrest in Mumbai.[11][12][13][14] In 2013, when an all-girls' band in Kashmir was facing harassment, she was again at the forefront of ensuring justice for them.[15][16][17] She has been the leading face of the Occupy UGC protests and later, the Rohith Vemula movement during which she sat on indefinite hunger strike in JNU.[18][19][20] She played a leading role in visualising the Occupy UGC movement and pioneering the decision to "camp" at UGC for fellowships.[21] She led the protests to MHRD, several times, taking on Smriti Irani and calling her assurances as eyewash.[22][23][24]

Life and education

Shehla Rashid Shora was born in the old city of Srinagar in the Habba Kadal locality. Her mother is a nurse in the SK Institute of Medical Sciences.[25]

Shora studied computer engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar and political leadership at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Afterwards, Shora said that she joined the corporate world but got disillusioned. She raised the issues of juvenile justice and acid attacks on women in Kashmir but "the political space there [was] too restricted." Eventually, she joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University, studying MPhil in Law and Governance.

She was always politically inclined but, in the Kashmir of 1990s, there was no scope for articulating it because there was a "heavy emphasis on maintaining normalcy."[26] Speaking at the India Today Conclave in March 2016, Shora said that she grew up watching a "very violent image of India" but JNU gave her democratic space.[27]

Activism

Shora unsuccessfully contested the election for Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment in 2014.[28]

In September 2015, she contested the election for vice-present of the JNU student union, as the nominee of the Left-backed All India Students Association, and won it, beating the ABVP's candidate Valentina Brahma by over 200 votes. She was the first Kashmiri girl to win a student union election at the JNU and the highest polled candidate of that year.[29] She said that there was enough space to articulate her political spirit at the JNU. However, her challenge was to "convince voters in favour of a Kashmir woman from a non-political background."[30]

Soon after getting elected, Shora condemned the ban on student politics at the Kashmir University. She said that, if ideas are suppressed, they would resurface in "undesirable ways."[31] In October 2015, she led a protest against the University Grants Commission (UGC) decision to cut student scholarships for MPhil and PhD students except for those that passed the `national eligibility test'. Under the banner "Occupy UGC," students from the JNU were joined by those from the Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia and the Ambedkar University Delhi in protests outside the UGC for over a month.[32][33] She is said to have ironed out the divergences between the AISA and the JNUSU and turned into the "face of the movement."[26]

In February 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of the JNU student was arrested on sedition charges. Several other student leaders were also targeted, including the general secretary Rama Naga and the former president Ashutosh Kumar. The mantle fell on Shora who took charge of the student union and ran it ably during the absence of Kumar and other leaders, leading the agitation for their release.[34][35] Over 4,000 people joined her in a protest march on the JNU campus on 14 February, where she delivered a powerful speech, setting out the direction of the movement, which has been viewed over 800,000 times on YouTube in less than two months, as of 02-04-2016.[36][37] On the 18th of February, 2016, 10,000[38] to 15,000[39] people joined a march in defence of JNU through the streets of Delhi, on Shehla Rashid Shora's call. On 2 March, she led a protest march to the Parliament, demanding a repeal of the sedition law. The protesters also called for the enactment of a `Rohith Act' for ending caste-based discrimination in educational institutions. The protest was joined by students and teachers from Universities across Delhi as well as the families of Rohith Vemula and Umar Khalid.[40]

References

  1. ↑ Voice from Valley leads JNU narrative, TOI, Mar 8, 2016.
  2. ↑ ‘Student Movements Will Be Deathbed Of RSS Agenda’, Outlook, Feb 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ http://www.standwithjnu.org/tag/shehla-rashid/ Stand With JNU, Shehla Rashid, Student Leader], Stand With JNU Official Website
  4. ↑ JNU Crackdown: 4 powerful voices you can't ignore, Daily O, 17 February 2016.
  5. ↑ JNUSU, in Kanhaiya’s absence: Shehla holds the fort with Rama, Saurabh charts his own path, The Indian Express, 29 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Shehla Rashid has found a political lexicon at JNU, Business Standard, Mar 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ Cornered on the Left: Questioning JNU student leader Shehla Rashid, Hindustan Times, Mar 14, 2016.
  8. ↑ Shehla Rashid – The Vice President of JNU and a revolutionary educationist from Jammu and Kashmir., Aapka Times, January 5, 2016.
  9. ↑ Spreading wings in the Valley, The Hindu Business Line, 15 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Exclusive Interview with Shehla Rashid Shora, Kashmir Scenario, April 13, 2013.
  11. ↑ Researchers see need to change Internet laws, The Hindu, April 13, 2013.
  12. ↑ Shehla Rashid on Section 66A New Guidelines, YouTube, Dec 18, 2012.
  13. ↑ It’s not just the government which misuses Section 66A, Firstpost, 26 Mar 2013.
  14. ↑ We need to uphold the right to democratic expression and freedom of speech: Shehla Rashid Shora, News Kashmir Magazine, July 17, 2015.
  15. ↑ Kashmir girl group forced to disband, India Today, Feb 2013.
  16. ↑ After online threats, Kashmir's first all-girls rock band may fall silent, Hindustan Times, Feb 02, 2013.
  17. ↑ After online threats, Rock on, says CM to Kashmir’s first all-girl band, Times of India, Feb 03, 2013.
  18. ↑ http://www.frontline.in/cover-story/politics-enriches-our-education/article8298960.ece ‘Politics enriches our education’], Frontline, Mar 18, 2016.
  19. ↑ Students continue hunger strike, The Hindu, January 29, 2016.
  20. ↑ Dalit scholar’s suicide: JNUSU members start hunger strike from police station, The Indian Express, January 29, 2016.
  21. ↑ Students plan all night sit-in to protest scrapping of non-Net fellowship, Zee News India, October 22, 2015.
  22. ↑ ‘Occupy UGC’ protest knocks at MHRD doors, The Hindu, November 6, 2015.
  23. ↑ UGC fellowship: Students get a say in review panel, Times of India, November 5, 2015.
  24. ↑ Occupy UGC: Students protest outside HRD Ministry, start postcard campaign, The Economic Times, Jan 13, 2016.
  25. ↑ Shehla Rashid, firebrand Kashmiri, leading JNU students’ fightback, Hindustan Times, 20 February 2016.
  26. 1 2 Meet Shehla Rashid, the firebrand JNU leader, Rediff News, 17 March 2016.
  27. ↑ It’s a direct fight against dictatorship: Kanhaiya Kumar, The Indian Express, 18 March 2016.
  28. ↑ Student election to JNU gender panel begins, The Hindu, March 30, 2014
  29. ↑ ‘Student activism has been crushed in Kashmir’, The Hindu, September 15, 2015
  30. ↑ Shehla Rashid becomes first Kashmiri girl to win JNU polls, The Times of India, 14 September 2015.
  31. ↑ JNUSU leader condemns ban on student politics in Valley, India Today, 19 September 2015.
  32. ↑ In Pictures: #OccupyUGC protests against scrapping of fellowships for PhD and MPhil students, Scroll.in, 22 October 2015.
  33. ↑ ‘Occupy UGC’: Students march to MHRD, detained, The Statesman, 19 November 2015.
  34. ↑ Kamal Mitra Chenoy, How Kanhaiya Kumar went from 'anti-national' to freedom icon, Daily O, 5 March 2016.
  35. ↑ JNUSU, in Kanhaiya’s absence: Shehla holds the fort with Rama, Saurabh charts his own path, The Indian Express, 29 February 2016.
  36. ↑ Arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar: Human chain on JNU campus as teachers demand ‘arbitrary charges’ be dropped, IE, Feb 15, 2016
  37. ↑ Watch JNU Student Union VP Make A Powerful Speech Against The Arrest Of Their President, Feb 15, 2016.
  38. ↑ Thousands join march in support of JNU students
  39. ↑
  40. ↑ JNU students march to parliament, Demand repeal of sedition law, The Times of India, 2 March 2016.

External links

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