There are some who are much concerned about the destruction of the public property or the traffic inconvenience caused by the protests. While these concerns are valid and public property should not be violated, it has to be kept in mind that ‘public’ cannot be confined only to a public bus.

I remember my friend’s message on the night of 15 December that all that she could see from the window of the metro train was tear gas shells and fire, and my own memory of feeling the same as I watched a group of hooligans enthusiastically sloganeering “tera mera rishta kya, jai shree ram jai shree ram” outside the JNU gate, a day after the JNU attack, with the police patiently standing.

I don’t know how to hierarchise the flame – that of a bus that was set on fire, allegedly by angry citizens, and of these state-backed hooligans stomping over the foundational basis of our nation.