I want to begin by saying that today I am truly proud that my nation, India, is still a democracy and that we the people of India are people with courage and the willingness to stand up for each other. Frankly, going by our recent history and the rapid polarization of our society and proliferation of hate speech and hate politics, I never thought I would see the day when Hindus, Sikhs and Christians would stand shoulder to shoulder with their Muslim brothers and sisters to protect them and their rights. Truly it is said that injustice can’t be removed until those who are not affected by it are willing to stand up against it. Injustice to one is injustice to all. The people of India have demonstrated that they are willing to stand against injustice even when it doesn’t affect some of them directly. The biggest and most powerful message in all this is that it is our youth, students in our universities who have taken the lead and shown us the way to go. This message is primarily addressed to them, to students, to youth, to the millennials and their children. Because the future is theirs. They inherited the world that we, my generation, created. They are the victims of our follies, greed, shortsightedness and ignorance. But all power to them, they decided to take their future in their own hands and break the vicious cycle that we bequeathed to them. They did what we (at least I) never dreamt that they would do. The best that we can do is to stand with them, so that when history is written it will at least be said that we tried to clean the mess we made.

The first thing to understand is that this CAA+NRC is the best thing that could have happened to India at this stage. We had become a rapidly polarized, fascist, extremist society with the voices of the ‘silent’ majority conspicuous by their silence while the strident and raucous screech of hate speech was echoing off the walls of our collective conscience. Then came the law; CAA and the threat of NRC to disenfranchise those who are already dehumanized and demonized. Liberals felt bad about this. But the problem with all Liberals anywhere is that they have no clear cause; no point of focus for their energy, intellect and emotion. They are just a bunch of ‘nice people’. That is no good because in today’s politics and especially in hate politics which feeds fascism, they are rendered totally ineffective. CAA+NRC gave them a focus, a rallying point, a goal to achieve. It suddenly made speaking out worthwhile. And we are seeing the result.

If you study the South African freedom struggle you will see that it is only when Apartheid became law with all its draconian elements that the struggle started. Whites have always discriminated against people of color from the time Allahﷻ gave color to some and took it away from others. But how many ‘freedom’ struggles do you see against that? Except when there are laws created to legitimize and legalize the crime that is Apartheid. That is what has happened today. The BJP/RSS gave us, the People of India, a goal. And that goal is to abolish this and all such laws, to abolish hatred, to abolish all those who preach hatred. Never lose sight of that. Never allow anyone to divide you ever again, or you will sink back into the cesspit and your oppressors will rule the roost. Remember, that they will never make the same mistake again. This is your chance. This is your only chance. This is your last chance before the abyss of darkness.

This is like a staring match. Whoever blinks or looks away first, loses. If you never tried a staring match, try it. You will see that as time passes it gets more and more tough. Your eyes start to water, then burn and it is so easy to look away or blink. But remember that it is also getting tougher for the other person. So, you don’t have to be the toughest in the world. You just have to be tougher than your opponent. In this case, only if civil society is relentless and opposition parties join in will something happen. Force the hands of the opposition parties. You voted for them. This is collection time. Don’t let any sit on the fence. They must choose between you or the BJP. Meet their leaders. Demand that they meet you. No games. Let them declare that they are against CAA+NRC. Many opposition leaders have done so. Force those who have not done so yet, to do so right away. Don’t rest and don’t let them rest until they declare that they will not implement the NRC in their states. These are YOUR states. Not THEIR states. They and all our politicians must be made to realize that they are elected representatives of the people, who remain where they are at the whim of the people. They are not hereditary monarchs, though they like to act like that. Remind them.

The rulers have initiated the NPR which is the first step. They will implement NRC at an appropriate time later. Make no mistake about that.

Another very important thing: Get the police who are trying to break up the peaceful protests, violently, to understand that you are fighting for them also. When they beat you, they are beating the only friends they have in the land. Tell them (let your posters say that and say this in your speeches; address them directly) that when the NRC is implemented, it is their families, brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts who will also have to stand in line and if they have no papers, they will also go to detention camps. Just because someone in their family is a cop, won’t save them.

Final important thing and maybe the most important: Keep repeating the fact that the people who this NRC will harm the most are the Hindu majority. It is their tax money which will be (is being) used to build the camps. It is their taxes which will feed the detainees forever, because they can’t be deported anywhere. The disruption to the economy and the loss of jobs, investment, production, services and peace that is happening is harming them the most because they are the majority. The myth of a Muslim Mukt India where every Hindu will be a king is rubbish. Total nonsense which is taking the lives and livelihoods of Hindus and Muslims alike. Emphasize this.The most critical thing to do is to keep the protests going for the next four years and ensure that hate mongers lose the general election. Meanwhile they’ll up the stakes and become more draconian and tighten the screws to try to break all resistance. No mercy will be shown because they want to make an example of whoever resists to discourage and break the spirit of others. Your main challenge will be to convince the wealthy that they’re in a life-threatening situation and need to invest in their own safety. They need to change their lifestyles and need to spend on funding the fight for freedom instead of their holidays, weddings and gana parties. That’s the biggest challenge.

Don’t look to your elders for leadership. They’re the reason you’re in this mess. They have no clue what to do. All our traditional leaders have failed. They’re a part of the cancer. You need new leaders who are untainted by the diseases of deliberate ignorance, cowardice, selfishness, corruption and greed. There may be exceptions among your elders, but exceptions prove the rule. So, don’t waste your time with them. If you follow them, they’ll squander your lives, and energy to save their own skins. You’ll get nothing from them that can be of any use to you.

Your great strength is that you are alone, unencumbered, unfettered. Rejoice, chart your own path, make mistakes, fall, but get up. Always get up. Alternatively, look to your elders, get infected with their fatal diseases, pick up their baggage, struggle for their ends, and die a futile death, knowing in your last moments that you did it to yourselves. You had a chance, but you blew it away. Your choice. Learn to stand on your own feet. Learn to think. Curse your own stupidity about not reading, especially history, not reflecting or thinking, being addicted to social media and being more interested in cricket and football than in your own future. That’s why your future is a football for others. You and your generation are not innocent either. You’re fools but not evil. So, wake up before it’s too late.

The critical thing is to keep the students on the street long enough to make a difference. It’s a battle of attrition in which the one who can take the loss wins. It’s that simple to define. It will be brutal. No quarter will be given. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that it will be easy or quick. It won’t. You’ve seen nothing yet. But if there’s consistency and perseverance, you students will win. That also I have no doubt about.

Get students across the world enrolled into your cause. Let there be demonstrations in global universities; not once but every week. They live in countries where they can protest without fear. Tell them to let their voices resound across national boundaries and wake up dead consciences. Let questions be asked in Parliaments and Assemblies across the world. Let cases be filed in the International Court of Justice. Let voices be raised in the United Nations. Let international media raise their voice. Let Heads of State who like to talk about justice summon the Indian Ambassadors in their countries and ask them what is going on. Put pressure on Indians abroad to stand up for justice. It is international pressure that won freedom from apartheid in South Africa. CAA+NRC is Apartheid. NPR is the first step towards it.

Let people everywhere understand that these steps to create a fascist, apartheid state based on Hindu supremacy calls for crucial funds to be spent in useless exercises to divide, discriminate against and oppress people instead of on education, production, creating employment opportunities and well-being. That is what the world must know and realize. Remind them that a nation which is embroiled in controversy and turmoil is a dead duck for investment and development. A nation which is spending money on building concentration camps instead of homes for the homeless is not a safe place to invest. Nobody cares about justice. Everybody cares about money. So, speak to them in the language they understand.

The time has come to face the brutal facts but never to lose hope. Take charge of your lives. The one who controls the narrative, wins the debate. Never give up your ethics and values. You must never do what the others do or act or speak in the way they do. They must not drive your narrative. They must not direct your behavior. They’re not your teachers. Think of any great revolution and try to name ten people who participated in it. I bet you, you can’t. But you and I know that it succeeded because there were a lot more than ten people involved. What happened to them? What did they gain? How did they continue to work even though many or most never saw success? It succeeded because they were the foundation stones. Without them it would have failed. If every stone wants to be on the façade there will be no building.

The question is, ‘Do you want the building, or do you want to be on the façade?’

Get ready to go into the ground like the stones in the foundation for the building to be built over you. Nobody will know you lived except the One who created you. And that’s enough.

Or get ready to spend the rest of your lives as slaves. The future is yours, not ours. Make of it whatever you wish, because you are going to live in it. You and your children.