JNU violence: Protests erupt in universities across country

Mumbai, January 6

Students in university campuses across the country and even abroad staged protests in solidarity with JNU students and condemned the violence that took place in the varsity.

Protests took place at Pondicherry University, Bengaluru University, University of Hyderabad and Aligarh Muslim University. Students staged peaceful marches to register their protest against the violence on the JNU campus.

“Today it is them, tomorrow it can be us. Violence in any form is condemnable. We stand by our friends in JNU,” Raiza, a Pondicherry University student said.

In Kolkata, police baton-charged supporters of the Left and the BJP as the two sides engaged in a face-off in the city's Jadavpur area on Monday during protest rallies, officials said.

Students of the Jadavpur University, activists of the SFI and members of other Left outfits took out a rally from 8B Bus Stand to Sulekha More, protesting against the violence at JNU campus on Sunday.

A march was taken out by the BJP from Bagha Jatin More to Jadavpur Police Station over the JNU issue and also ransacking of its party office in the area on Sunday night.

The two sides came face to face at Sulekha More, leading to a brawl.

Police put up barricades and blocked both the rallies, however, allegedly abuses were hurled and slogans and counter-slogans raised.

SFI supporters claimed that BJP workers used expletives against women activists. The Left cadres in protest burnt flags of the BJP.

After repeated attempts to calm the situation, officials said police baton-charged to disperse the rallyists.

Protests were also seen at Oxford and Columbia University where students expressed solidarity and took out marches holding posters demanding safety of students on campus.

More students from various colleges in Mumbai joined the protest at the Gateway of India on Monday morning to condemn the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Protests have also been reported from several campuses across India, including Aligarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. 

The students shouted slogans condemning the violence.

Earlier, as the protest began on Sunday midnight, a group of students held a candlelight vigil to show solidarity with the JNU students.

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Also read: Mayhem on JNU campus as masked men and women attack students, teachers

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The youth, mostly students from different colleges in Mumbai, assembled on the pavement across the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel near the Gateway of India to condemn the violence.

Back again with water and vada pav ! Come on Mumbai ! pic.twitter.com/4ZmfyauZSP

— Anandini (@Anandin68594528) January 6, 2020

It was an “impromptu assembly at a short notice”, a student said.

Violence broke out in JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

GATEWAY OF INDIA... pic.twitter.com/ypiM3M2Wbr

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) January 5, 2020

At least 28 people, including JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

Eyewitnesses alleged that the attackers entered the premises when a meeting was being held by JNU Teachers’ Association over the issue of violence on the campus, and assaulted students and professors. They also barged into three hostels.

#chalogateway #MumbaiWithJNU #OccupyGateway pic.twitter.com/PLbQDm6lOe

— Tarini Desai (@LegallyBratty) January 6, 2020

Video footage aired by some TV channels showed a group of men, who were brandishing hockey sticks and rods, moving around a building.

The Left-controlled JNUSU and the RSS-backed ABVP blamed each other for the incident.

On Sunday, there were protests in campuses across the country to protest the violence against JNU students.

The Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) of Jadavpur University took out a protest rally against the attack on JNU on Sunday, students’ body leader Somasree Choudhury said.

Over 300 students participated in the rally.

The Students Federation of India (SFI) said it will take out rallies here on Monday against the “barbaric attack” on JNU students.

The rallies will be organised in Jadavpur University and Presidency University, said leaders of the SFI, the student’s wing of the CPI(M).

Students will take out a protest rally within the campus against the “fascist” attack, said Jadavpur University leader of SFI Debraj Debnath said.

“We will also decide if protests will be held outside the campus and our future course of action against the ABVP and saffron forces,” he said.

The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association and the All Bengal University Teachers’ Association also issued statements condemning the attack on JNU students.

In Hyderabad, a group of students and citizens staged a protest condemning the violence at JNU.

Expressing solidarity with the JNU students, the protesters gathered near Ambedkar statute on Tank Bund after midnight on Sunday and raised slogans like “Students Fraternity Zindabaad” and held placards that read “We are with you JNU”.

They raised slogans and held a candlelight protest and later dispersed, a senior police official told PTI.

The protesters also raised slogans against the Narendra Modi government over the CAA.

Similarly, a group of students under the banner of “HCU Students Union” also protested against the violence at JNU.

They took out a rally late Sunday night on the campus of University of Hyderabad (UoH) here condemning the “brutal attack on JNU students” and blamed the ABVP for the violence and demanded the arrest of the culprits.

Protests were also held at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) late on Sunday night against violence at the JNU.

A spokesperson of protesting students said that a march was held in the night to express solidarity with the JNU students.

In a statement, the AMU Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) condemned the violence.

AMUTA secretary Najmul Islam urged the Chief Justice of India to take suo motu cognisance of the “unprecedented situation arising from Sunday’s assault on JNU students and teachers”.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulahari said police had been deployed at sensitive points all around the campus as a precautionary measure.

Former AMU students’ union president Faizul Hasan said students would hold a peaceful march on Monday to express solidarity with all those who are holding peaceful protests against the amended Citizenship Act.

Protests also took place Monday at the National Law University in Bangalore and IIT-Bombay and Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

"Today it is them, tomorrow it can be us," Raiza, a Pondicherry university student, said.

In Nepal, JNU alumni gathered at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu to voice their protest.

‘Scared’

As students began cleaning the debris, hundreds of security personnel swarmed the campus—and outside it too—keeping a watchful eye on the restless crowds that sang songs of revolution and raised slogans. Many students also packed their bags and left for their homes.

 A Kashmiri student, requesting anonymity, said he was chased by the mob and had jump from the first floor with his friends.

 "We were three-four friends inside a room. Suddenly, some of our friends came running and said, 'The ABVP is coming with lathis and rods'. We latched the room but within a few seconds, they started banging on it with lathis. They also broke glass windows on top of the door. Scared, we opened the balcony door and jumped from the first floor. Otherwise they would have killed us," the student said.

Surya Prakash, a visually challenged student, was beaten too.

"They came to my room and beat with me rods. I told them I am blind but they continued the assault. I have been hit badly and I will have to go for an X-ray. I'm scared," he said.

Questions swirled in the air. How was the armed mob allowed to enter the campus? Why was it taking so long for police to make an arrest?

Shreya Ghosh asked how armed goons could enter the campus and said, "The attack could not have happened without the connivance of the administration and police". The Home minister spoke to Delhi LG Anil Baijal and requested him to call representatives from JNU for discussions, officials said. However, Shah did not mention JNU when he addressed a gathering here later in the day.

The HRD Ministry, on its part, met officials from the JNU administration and took stock of the situation on the campus but Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar skipped the meeting.

"A detailed report has been sent to the HRD Ministry about the sequence of events," Kumar told PTI.

Meanwhile, the clamour for Kumar's resignation grew louder with the students' union and the JNU Teachers Association accusing him of behaving like a "mobster" and of "perpetrating violence" in the university.

"The violence that happened is the result of the desperation and frustration of the VC and his cronies,” JNUSU said. —PTI