Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ union president Aishe Ghosh today slammed the BJP-RSS combine while speaking at a gathering outside University of Calcutta after the university authorities did not allow her to participate in a debate inside the campus citing reasons of tradition.
Later she participated in an anti-CAA and anti-NRC rally from College Square to Shyambazar which was attended by hundreds of students, cultural activists and senior CPI (M) leaders.
“The attack by the BJP-RSS combine is unprecedented as anyone holding any viewpoint or ideology which is different from their Hindi-Hindu-Hindusthan concept is being eliminated. The universities are the first place to raise their voices against this imposition of one ideology. The students and teachers of the universities are under attack as the RSS and BJP are afraid of this movement. We will have to take this movement among people and fight tooth and nail to save the Indian Constitution. It is high time that we go face to face with BJP-RSS and reject their politics of hatred. We will not allow communal polarisation here,” said Ms Ghosh who came to the limelight after being attacked allegedly by ABVPbacked goons inside the JNU campus on the night of 5 January.
She said, “The saffron forces are trying to spread communalism and divide people in the name of religion in the soil of Bengal which never discriminated between Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, between Sourav Ganguly and Azharuddin. But we will have to fight against them and uproot them at any cost. We will have to make people understand that Bengal has always rejected the communal politics and these divisive forces must be prevented.”
Referring to the JNU incident, she said, “We were leading a movement against fee hike for the last two months before the attack took place on 5 January. We want students cutting across religion, region and gender to get education but the saffron brigade does not as the culture of education is an alien concept to them.”
Ms Ghosh also said that organising peaceful debate never goes against the traditions of any university and there should be place for debate and discussion. Later she walked in a rally which was attended by CPIM leaders Biman Bose, Surjya Kanta Mishra and other personalities like Tarun Majumder, Chandan Sen, Aneek Dutta, Bharati Mutsuddi among others.