PU students disrupt seminar over JNU

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

Students of Panjab University (PU) today staged a protest against the BJP-led government’s silence over the recent attacks on JNU students. The protest took place during a seminar organised by the National Commission for Women (NCW).

On the front burner of the agitation, Amandeep, a member of Left-leaning PSU (Lalkar), interrupted Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta as he lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.

Pointing at the title of the seminar, “Women’s Participation in Decision Making”, Amandeep asked Gupta and other dignitaries, including NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma, about their “reluctance” to address the issue of the violent attack on JNU president Aishe Ghosh, allegedly by the ABVP. The question was followed by a barrage of slogans, which were anti-ABVP, anti-RSS and anti-BJP.

Protesters, including the PU’s first woman president from the Left-leaning SFS, Kanupriya, and Vijay of AISA, also shouted “Sanghi VC, hai hai” as some 20 students from other student organisations stood on their chairs and flashed posters to support the JNU.

To avoid any controversy, PU security officials and some UT cops reportedly led the protesters to the exit door of the English auditorium.

Soon, Gupta lashed out, “Iss prakar ke logon ko, jo desh ki akhandata aur ekta ko todna chahtey hain, muh tor jawab hum sab ko mil kar ke dena hoga”. He said such people, under the influence of the West, “act as hurdles in the way of India’s development”. On his comments, Sukhwinder Singh and Juzar Singh, members of Sath, a student organisation, raised slogans of “shame, shame”. They were guided out of the door too.

Even though MP Kirror Kher did not turn up, there were other biggies at the seminar, including Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India. He criticised triple talaq, prohibition of women at Sabarimala and rooted for caste unity in the struggle for women empowerment. While Rekha Sharma spoke highly of PU luminaries like the late Sushma Swaraj, who had been the External Affairs Minister, and Dr Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, she remained tight-lipped on the protest at the auditorium. She said, “This is a free country. They (students) put forth their views.” She said she would meet the girls injured in the violence.

Amandeep said: “I tried to tolerate the dramatic, flowery speeches on Modi’s accomplishments, but it was infuriating to see the speakers’ 'ignorance' of the ground reality. On the one hand, you talk of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, and on the other, your ABVP activists beat up the woman president of a top university.”

Kanupriya said: “Their silence on crime against women speaks volumes about them. We can’t let them turn a blind eye towards such incidents of violence.”

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