A day after the JNU students and teachers were attacked by masked goons inside the varsity campus, thousands of students took to the streets here on Monday to condemn such a brutal attack on the varsity students and teachers.
About 34 JNU students and teachers, including JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, were severely injured in this attack.
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Ghosh sustained severe head injuries and was admitted to the AIIMS Sunday night from where she was discharged on Monday morning.
Addressing media persons on Monday outside the JNU campus, Ghosh alleged that it was an organised attack and some of the “RSS affiliated professors” were promoting violence.
“For last few days, some RSS-affiliated professors were promoting violence to break our movement. Are we wrong to ask for the safety from the JNU and Delhi Police? It was an organised attack, they were identifying people and attacking them,” she charged. “I was surrounded by 30 persons who hit me with iron rods continuously. We were punched. They were about to lynch us and were abusing us.”
JNUSU vice president Saket Moon alleged that students were targeted and attacked. He alleged that they asked help from the police but there was no help from them.
Despite heavy police deployment, students and teachers protested outside JNU campus and were raising slogans of “Azadi”. They condemned the violence that took place at the JNU campus on Sunday night.
The Congress party’s students wing, National Students Union of India (NSUI), also rose in solidarity with the JNU students and teachers.
Neeraj Kundan, the NSUI’s national president alleged, “The ABVP goons armed with lathis, hammers and sticks went on rampage in JNU. It is state-sponsored terror attack on JNU yesterday by ABVP under direct orders from BJP and Amit Shah with protection of Delhi Police,” adding that “such state-sponsored violence against students shall not be tolerated.”
The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university’s students and teachers, as well as the Federation of Central University Teachers Associations (FEDCUTA), also condemned the brutal JNU violence.
Majid Jamil, secretary of Jamia Teachers Association (JTA) said, “The JTA also condemns the complete complicity of the police in refusing to intervene or providing the minimum security and protection to the JNU community in the face of this dastardly attack. This also reveals the intent of this central government which has been totally complicit in the violence against teachers and students in campus after campus in different parts of the country.”
He said, “The JTA demands an immediate stop to the violence and protection for the students and teachers. The JTA also demands immediate and complete medical assistance to all injured.”
The JNU administration appealed to the students to maintain peace on the campus and assured them that the semester registration will continue.
“Would like to appeal to all the students to maintain peace. The university stands by all the students to facilitate their pursuit of academic activities. We will ensure that their winter semester registration will take place without any hindrance. They need not fear about their process. The top priority of the university is to protect the academic interests of our students,” said JNU VC M Jagadesh Kumar.
JNU students, who were the eyewitnesses of Sunday’s attack, recalled the “Sunday night horror” and questioned the administration over it.
Said Samir Bhandit, “As the mob entered the campus they first started raising slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. Post 6.30 pm, the mob started targeting the students and singled them out before beating them. Rooms were vandalised, windows were broken. They were beating the students with whatever they could find. The mob which stormed the campus were members of the ABVP. They broke bricks, they also threw acid on vacant spaces. Most of the students, who were not targeted, got panicked and they were just trying to search for safe spaces and were trying to leave the campus.”
A Kashmiri student, on condition of anonymity, said that it was a “planned attack” on students including Kashmiri and Muslim students.
The Kashmiri student alleged, “They (goons) targeted me and other Kashmiri and Muslim students. Lights were turned off in the hostel and they broke glass, bricks and other things. A woman who was with the goons was also beating us. She dragged me outside the room and was brutally beating me. I could not even lock myself inside the room, they broke everything.”
The student added that “I called a few teachers but unfortunately they were also targetted by the mob. We at the utmost all formed a group and stayed together for few hours near the Sabarmati Point until we could get a way to run out for a safe space. I stayed the night at Vasant Kunj at my local guardian’s place,” said the student.
