Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that citizens should be wary of jihadists, Maoists and separatists getting into student activism, in an apparent reaction to protests which erupted across various campuses in the country against police crackdown on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday, who were agitating against the new Citizenship Act.

Sitharaman, however, said that she was not aware of the events at New Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia University over the weekend. She also said that activism per se is not new to universities and attributed the same to idealism that guides a student because of his/her age.

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The student-activist turned politician Sitharaman also hit out at the Congress. She said whipping up people’s emotions on issues like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) only shows the opposition party’s frustration.

The protest against Citizenship Act turned violent on Sunday in the evening in southeast Delhi’s Mathura Road after the agitators resorted to arson and police used force practically turning the area into a war zone, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and firefighters injured.

Violence erupted following a clash between police and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) students who were protesting against the amended Citizenship Bill. At least five buses were set ablaze. Police used batons and teargas and were seen chasing protesters through the streets.

The Aligarh Muslim University has also been shut down till January 5 after violence erupted in the university late on Sunday night, in protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

AMU students mounted a violent protest against the police crackdown on students in Jamia Milia in Delhi.

Students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Jadavpur University and IIT Mumbai have also come out in support of Jamia Millia Islamia students.

President Ram Nath Kovind, in a late Thursday night order, gave his assent to The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, letting it become an Act allowing Indian citizenship to six non-Muslim minority migrants facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

According to the new law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

(With PTI inputs)