The protestors who have been on a sit-in in front of the Delhi University's women's hostel block at the Dhaka Campus to protest against the hostel curfew have put their protests on hold till at least March 31 owing to the Coronavirus pandemic. But they will have a few representatives taking their place at the protest site — the residents have put plants to sit in for them.
Keeping in mind the ongoing health emergency, the women residents of the Dhaka Complex said that they would continue their struggle symbolically till March 31. "We will follow the principle of social distancing due to which we would avoid huge gatherings. As a symbol of dissent, we have placed plants at the protest site to depict that the protest still continues in its full swing leaving alone the idea of gathering in huge numbers for some time," said Amisha Nanda, who came up with the idea. "I had the idea that we should put plants there (at the protest site) because it signifies growth — for us, the growth of our protest. The protestors supported the idea," she added.
The women hostellers of the varsity have also been asked to vacate the premises by March 22 but at the same time trains have been cancelled, regulations passed to not go out unless it is an emergency — the students stand between a rock and a hard place now. They also alleged that the residents of the male hostels are not being forced to move while they have been told to vacate as soon as possible.
The students had said that they will adhere to the lockdown directives and will not venture out. "We had written to the Vice-Chancellor stating that we will remain indoors and no one will be allowed inside — no visitors, parents or even students who are not currently inside. The mess workers had agreed to cook for us at NESHW as they too won't be able to leave for home. There are very less trains running and it is not safe to travel either," said Amisha, a resident of Ambedkar Ganguly Students' House for Women. "But the authorities have given us only 24 hours to vacate. They even said that if we can't go home we should go to the State Houses. But they will stop mess services at the Undergraduate House for Girls from tomorrow," said Amisha.
