Rajnath Singh claims Hafiz Saeed backed JNU protests

Fresh storm erupts over alleged LeT link; vandals attack CPM HQ in Delhi

New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University became the centrestage for national politics as the ongoing row over anti-India sloganeering by a group of students escalated Sunday, setting off a massive political storm after Union home minister Rajnath Singh claimed the event at the JNU campus to commemorate the third death anniversary of Afzal Guru had the support of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba patron and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

“The incident (Afzal event) at JNU has received support from Hafiz Saeed. This is a truth that the nation needs to understand... What happened is very unfortunate,” Mr Singh told reporters in Allahabad, referring to the event at the JNU campus last week.

The Congress and Left parties, along with other non-BJP parties like the NCP, pounced on the Narendra Modi government demanding that the home minister corroborate his statement with proof as it had “serious implications”. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said it was a “very serious charge” to level against the students, while CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI national secretary D. Raja demanded that the evidence be made public.

The RSS too jumped into the fray, making a veiled attack on the Congress and the Left over their stand, saying that some political leaders were “condoning anti-national acts instead of demanding action against them”. Cautioning his fellow politicians and intellectuals, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju asserted that “freedom of expression is not absolute and unqualified” and that it “can’t be at the expense of the national interest”.

The storm set off after the Delhi police on Sunday posted a tweet saying: “This is to alert and sensitise the student community in JNU and across the country. Do not get carried away by such seditious anti-national rhetoric. Abetment of any kind of anti-national activity is a punishable offence.” In the alert, the Delhi police pinned the tweet by the handle named HafeezSaeedJUD saying “We request our Pakistani brothers to trend #SupportJNU for our pro-Pakistani JNUite brothers.” After it turned out that the Twitter handle was reportedly fake, the MHA tried to distance itself from the tweet, saying: “Statement of the home minister is based on the inputs available from different agencies.” MHA sources said the intelligence agencies had warned that LeT wanted to “stoke unrest” and fish in troubled waters amid the students’ protests at JNU. The security agencies are now probing whether the Twitter handle was created by the LeT founder, and if not, who were the elements behind it.

This is the first time any event at the premier institution is being linked to terror activities emanating from Pakistan. JNU teachers rallied Sunday behind the protesting students and questioned the university’s decision to allow the police crackdown on the campus while they appealed to the public not to “brand” the institution as “anti-national”.

The CPI(M) headquarters in the capital was, meanwhile, attacked on Sunday by some youths who defaced the signboard and threw stones before they were detained by the police. While the CPI(M) said the attackers were RSS-BJP workers, the police said the detainees claimed to be members of an outfit called the “Aam Aadmi Sena”. As police personnel were deployed at the CPI(M) and CPI headquarters to prevent further vandalism, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury launched a scathing attack on the government, saying: “The RSS, which venerates the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi, is now branding the most secular democratic force, the CPI(M), as anti-national... We don’t need certificates of patriotism from the murderers of Gandhi. We will meet this challenge politically,” he said.

The Left parties alleged that the JNU event was “stage-managed” by the ABVP, the BJP’s student outfit, as a video allegedly showing ABVP members shouting pro-Pakistan slogans went viral. The ABVP strongly refuted the charge, saying the video was “morphed” to tarnish its image and lodged a complaint with the Delhi police cyber cell.

CPI leader D. Raja, meanwhile, defended his daughter, an AISF leader, whose name figures on the list of JNU students accused of raising anti-India slogans, and hit out at his political rivals for making “irrational and baseless” allegations about this. As the Congress attacked the government over the police action at JNU, the BJP said on Sunday that the party was “siding” with anti-India forces, which showed the frustration and confusion in its ranks.

The row over sloganeering at JNU first began after anti-India slogans were raised by a group of students who belonged to various outfits to commemorate the hanging of Afzal Guru, that led to the arrest of students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was slapped with sedition charges last week.

Seven of the eight students of JNU who were debarred from academic activities after their participation in the controversial event have been asked to appear before a high-level JNU panel which is now probing the matter. “Seven students have been sent notices to appear before the university’s high-level committee probing the matter. Eight students, including Kanhaiya, have been debarred from any academic activity till the inquiry is over,” JNU registrar Bhupinder Zutshi said.

Not ruling out a Maoist link to the Afzal Guru protests, top government sources said the Delhi police probe is examining the role of the fringe outfit of an extreme Left-leaning outfit, which had split into two a year ago. Three students belonging to this fringe outfit are learnt to be absconding. This group was instrumental in organising the latest protests and shouted anti-India slogans, a source has claimed. They were even responsible for the protests over the arrest of Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba over his alleged Naxalite links, the source added.