When you express solidarity with others, you come back strengthened. That’s something Shabana Azmi always believed in. And the veteran actor experienced it over the past three days as she joined the ongoing protests — led by Abhijeet Dipke’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) — at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding education reforms and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak. 

Since July 19, Azmi has been at Jantar Mantar, even joining thousands of youth in the Chalo Sansad march on July 20. Talking to mid-day from New Delhi, she said, “These young people have been pushed to the wall, and they have chosen to resist with courage and dignity.”

The actor criticised the police that resorted to lathi charge and tear gas even as the students protested peacefully on Monday. According to Dipke, over 150 protesters were undergoing treatment in hospital due to the violence.

Expressing her disapproval over the police’s handling of the situation, Azmi said, “What impressed me most was that despite their pain, their anger, and the provocation, the students remained determined to protest peacefully. The tear gas and lathi charge were completely unwarranted and condemnable. Who treats young students this way when all they are asking for is dialogue?”

A dialogue with the students, in fact, is what Azmi and her husband, noted writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar — both former members of the Rajya Sabha — sought from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Azmi revealed that they wrote a letter to the PM, urging him to understand the students’ concerns.

We received an acknowledgement, saying that we would get a reply within two days. When four days passed without any response, I decided to go to Delhi in support of the students. We are constantly told that our youth are our greatest strength. Then why were their voices not even being heard? When I went to Jantar Mantar, I saw hope and strength. We often dismiss Gen Z as careless or disengaged. I think the failure is ours. We have failed to provide them with the leadership that inspires trust. Yet today they are inspiring us, even to the extent of risking their own lives for what they believe is right,” said Azmi, referring to the protesters’ hunger strike.

The actor’s participation has been criticized by some sections, who claimed her presence was giving a political colour as she is seen as aligned with Left-wing politics. “I have never been a member of any political party,” she asserted, before adding that a patriot must hold those in power accountable for the betterment of the country.

“Democracy is strengthened by questioning, not weakened by it. I’ve been called many things over the years. Both Javed and I are criticized with equal intensity by Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists, which says something about our refusal to belong to any ideological camp. The real question is not what people call me. The real question is whether young citizens asking for dialogue deserve to be heard.”

Hearing their concerns and acting on them is the need of the hour, Azmi insisted. For her, the students are the “real story”.

“Throughout history, young people have been the harbingers of change. They are our greatest investment. Let us nurture them, undertake the educational reforms they have been demanding, overhaul a system that too often fails them, and give every young Indian an equal opportunity to realize their potential.”

Five days before she reached Jantar Mantar, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar had written to PM Modi as concerned citizens and former nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, urging him to begin a dialogue with Sonam Wangchuk and the students. The letter was emailed, faxed and personally delivered, and an acknowledgement promised a response within two days.

When no reply came, Azmi decided to join the protest herself. “We waited two days, then three, then four. On the fifth day, I decided I would come here,” she said at Jantar Mantar on Monday.

Azmi maintained that her presence was never about herself. Standing in solidarity with the students, she said her presence was meant to draw attention to the young people who had shown the courage to raise their voices.

She also rejected claims that the students were being used for political ends. Speaking to a news channel, she said, “It was a sea of young people. I have never seen such a scene in my life… I have never been involved with any political party. I have never been a member of any political party. On record, I’m telling you, nor do I intend to be. I have never been a member of any political party because I have always believed that joining a political party means the party’s truth becomes your truth, which could be a one-sided truth. When I was in Parliament, we (she and Javed Akhtar) were Presidential nominees. We were with no party.”

About the protesters, Shabana Azmi told reporters at Jantar Mantar, “They are saying violence kiya, jo bilkul sachh nahi hai . Ek tarfa jo sach bata rahe hain woh nainsaafi ho rahi hai yahan.”

When asked how she responds to being repeatedly labelled anti-national, she said, “Iss baat ko dil se nahi lagana chahiye. Mujhe kitni baar anti-national kaha gaya hai.”

At 75, Azmi said she sees speaking out not as activism but as a moral compulsion. “Main hamesha nahi bolti hoon. Jab paani hadd se guzar jata hai, jab mujhe koi cheez andar se jhinjhorti hai tab bolti hoon... ab meri 75 saal umar ho gayi hai, main bahut kuch dekh chhuki hoon.”

She added that she understands the resolve required for a hunger strike because she has experienced it herself. In May 1986, she joined filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and activist Gurubai Bhaskar Hamza in a five-day hunger strike demanding rehabilitation for slum dwellers displaced from Colaba in Mumbai. The protest was successful.

Throughout the protest, Azmi posted several videos from Jantar Mantar and recited a verse by her father, Kaifi Azmi: “Koi toh sood chukaye, koi toh zimma le, uss inqalab ka jo aaj tak udhaar sa hai.”