Photo Essays

New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

Recent Features

Photo Essays | Society | South Asia

New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

Full-fledged protests in India’s capital were quickly muffled, so students have resorted to quieter means of dissent.

New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

Jamia Millia Islamia’s historic Ghalib statue was transformed into a symbol of resistance when students draped a Palestinian flag in its hands. This act poetically underscored education as a powerful tool for challenging global injustices.

Credit: Roopashi Semalty
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

The censoring of the “Free Palestine” sign illustrates the global effort to silence the powerful message that the phrase carries.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

The phrase “Free Palestine” painted on a transformer.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

The slogan, “From river to sea, Palestine will be free” can be seen whitewashed at Delhi University’s (DU) North Campus.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A student checks out a graffiti while walking in the lanes of North Campus, DU.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A Palestine map painted as a part of a protest campaign by a left-wing student organization, Democratic Students Federation (DSF), at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Languages.

Credit: Roopashi Semalty
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A freshly-washed T-shirt bearing the graphic of “Save Palestine” can be seen hanging along with laundry at Jamia Millia Islamia’s girl’s hostel.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A female student at Jawaharlal Nehru University sports a broken watermelon earring as a mark of solidarity.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

The colors of a Palestinian flag – green, red, white, and black – and protest slogans and poetry adorn a poster by the Disha student wing at a notice board in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Credit: Roopashi Semalty
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A torn-up poster of a movie screening for “Gaza Fights For Freedom” is stuck on a lift wall.

Credit: Roopashi Semalty
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A pro-Palestine poster sits next to Jamia Millia Islamia’s Hygienic canteen.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A piece of paper reading “#FREE PALESTINE” stands out from a sea of sticky notes stuck on window grill by the students.

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A book titled “Gaza Mama- Politics & Parenting in Palestine” is displayed at a bookstore in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Credit: Roopashi Semalty
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A student flaunts her new tote bag bearing the slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”

Credit: Sidra Fatima
New Delhi’s Quiet Student Solidarity With Palestine

A student walks past graffiti on the walls of the Delhi School of Economics, DU.

Credit: Roopashi Semalty

Since the October 7 attacks, painstaking images of Israel’s ongoing brutality in Gaza have stirred hearts, compelling many to raise banners demanding a ceasefire. This wave of resistance has taken over university campuses worldwide, including Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Harvard University in the United States, where a record number of students are mobilizing large-scale pro-Palestine protests.

The screams from Israel’s unfaltering attacks on Gaza have also echoed in the Indian subcontinent. New Delhi’s college campuses witnessed spurts of protests, but they were muffled swiftly.

As a result, students in the national capital have resorted to unconventional means of dissent. From graffiti to poster campaigns, from artistic expressions on wearables to boycott initiatives like the BDS movement, the campuses of Delhi University (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) have shown solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

As the black, white, and green stripes of the Palestinian flag found their place in the nook and corners of these campuses, these photographs showcase the powerful means of protest over the past three months.

Dreaming of a career in the Asia-Pacific?
Try The Diplomat's jobs board.
Find your Asia-Pacific job