It was the belated recognition of this, after many decades of struggle, that brought the FRA into being in 2006. By July 20, the group had swelled to a defiant crowd more than a lakh strong set to march to Parliament to demand Pradhan’s resignation. And we asked, can students coexist with such a government? We saw sordid scenes of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Chandrashekhar Azad, and many others manhandled and dragged into police vans. Whether forest-dwellers or students, opposition parties or State governments, Dalits or Muslims, this government must learn to listen.