BJP blames ‘ideological mercenaries’, Left-leaning activists, for JNU violence

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 6

The BJP has blamed “ideological mercenaries”, the Left-leaning activists, for the violence witnessed on the JNU campus here on Sunday night.

“There is a motley group of Left-leaning activists drawn from art, literature and Bollywood, lapsed academics and failed politicians, who can’t win a municipal poll but are ideological mercenaries. 

“Backed by opposition parties, they are the ones fomenting trouble on campuses,” BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya wrote on social media trying to shift the blame from the ABVP. 

“When one sees imaginary Tricolours and pictures of Mahatma in protests cheered and led by Islamist slogans, leading to violence, destruction of public property and temples then they must be called out for their bigotry. Are these people wilfully blind or have their PR glasses on,” he wrote. 

However, amid allegations that the attack was planned and that “reality” was something else, the question is can the ruling BJP be absolved of its responsibility in such a situation, observers say.

As protests spread across the country, the question is whether the BJP is able to tide over the growing perception and anger among students following CAA-NPR, they add. 

A ruling party cannot absolve itself of the situation merely by putting blame on Left-leaning activists, “ideological mercenaries”. It might be convenient for the BJP to pin the blame on Left-leaning activists, but the ruling party has a lot to answer,” they say.

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