Thousands rally against ‘anti-national’ activities in JNU

New Delhi, February 21

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Thousands of people led by a group of ex-servicemen marched from Rajghat to Jantar Mantar in protest of “anti-national” activists in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), are believed to have mobilised the march.

"Massive rally in Delhi led by ex-Generals against incidents at JNU in Delhi. Tens of thousands joined spontaneously," BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav tweeted.

"Lakhs of citizens including families of former soldiers at #MarchForUnity proved that we'd stand together for respect of motherland. JaiHind!" BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted.

BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma also criticised opposition parties for accusing the NDA government in the Centre of misusing the sedition law and cited official data to claim most arrests under law had been made in Bihar, where JD (U)-RJD-Congress alliance is in power and which has been ruled by Nitish Kumar for over than 10 years.

"Those who engage in anti-national will find themselves behind bars."   

Amid political wranglings over the issue, renowned thinker and academician Noam Chomsky questioned vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar's decision to allow police on its campus, saying it was apparently "created and precipitated" by the government and the university administration.

Chomsky, who along with Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and 86 other academicians from renowned universities abroad, had last week condemned "the culture of authoritarian menace", said action against students were taken with "no credible evidence" of any seditious activities on campus.

"Why did you allow the police on campus when it is clear that this was not legally required?" Chomsky said in an email.

At the campus, teachers continued to take open-air classes on "Nationalism" as part of the ongoing protest demanding release of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar who was arrested for allegedly raising anti-India slogans.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear tomorrow a plea seeking contempt action against Kumar, former DU lecturer SAR Gilani and few others on the ground that they allegedly termed the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as "judicial killing".

Kumar was arrested on February 12. While the students and teachers supporting him have condemned raising of anti- national slogans, they claim the slogans were not raised by him and there was nothing seditious in his 26 minute speech rendered a day later.

Kanhaiya Kumar, a left-wing student leader of the JNU, was arrested and charged with sedition for some anti-national activities on campus when his student union organised an event to protest the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on his third death anniversary on February 9. — PTI