In a joint statement, the three leaders said have chose to quit ABVP as they have serious differences over the way the NDA government was handling the issue, adding there is a difference between “interrogation and crushing ideology and branding entire Left as anti-national”. This is not the culture of the university. The ongoing protests in Delhi against the crackdown on the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) reached Jadavpur University yesterday.
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During the torch rally brought from JU campus to Gol Park in South Kolkata by students of all faculties of the university, slogans like “Afzal bole azadi, Geelani bole azadi” and “Cheenke ke lenge azadi” were raised. “These are some fringe elements”. However, a police officer said the matter is being “thoroughly investigated”. All such posters were signed by a group called “RADICAL”. “Hum kya hahe, Azadi/Kashmir ki Azadi/Manipur ki Azadi / Nagaland ki Azadi” ( We demand independence / Kashmir’s independence / Manipur’s independence / Nagaland’s independence), said one poster. The incident is a grim reminder of similar scenes witnessed at the JNU campus on February 9, which also saw alleged anti-India slogans being raised at the event. “I met the students union leaders in the morning and they told me that they disassociate themselves with all anti-national slogans”, Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das said. The lawyers then allegedly went on to beat up a journalist and student.
Day after the incident, few controversial posters in favour of freedom in Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland and against the hanging of Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon were spotted at JU campus.
In retaliation, another group of students carrying the tricolour and shouting “Bharat Mata ki jai” went round the campus on Wednesday and even staged a sit-in outside Aurobindo Bhavan, the university’s administrative block. They shouted slogans against eulogising Afzal.
While the initial stages of the march saw no anti-India slogans, some members from the group broke into pro-Afzal sloganeering.
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“The students on their part are very clear on their stance”. So, we have made a decision to take to the streets and chose to hold a rally to condemn the incident that took place yesterday in the campus.
