Mumbai University students protest arrest of JNU’s Kanhaiya Kumar

The arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, president of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union and the social boycott of eleven other students along with the police crackdown on JNU campus prompted yet another protest at the Kalina campus of the University of Mumbai on Monday afternoon. The protestors under the banner of Justice for Rohith – Joint Action Committee (JAC) has alleged that the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) action was aimed at diverting the attention of the nation from the Justice for Rohith movement and also repress the voices of the student community.

Students belonging to different institutions in the city along with members of various unions and organisations participated in the protest. Members of the JAC said that the police crackdown on the students of JNU and the arrest of Mr Kumar were an attempt to repress the voices of dissent. The student protesters have called all democratic, progressive, Ambedkarite and leftist forces to unite together and join them to fight back “repression”.

“The students who have been at the forefront of opposing capital punishment and the hanging of Afzal Guru are the new targets of pseudo-nationalist forces. Even before the controversy surrounding the clampdown on dissenting Dalit students by the Hyderabad Central University can settle the president of the JNU students union and 12 other students have been booked under sections 124 A (Sedition), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and unlawful assembly. Mr Kumar has also been sent to police custody. There is a state of emergency on JNU campus and the police, who is swarming the campus under the clause of “Unknown persons”, is searching the rooms of students based on the list provided by the university administration,” said a protesting student, adding that those students supporting the RSS ideology were spared.

Another student said that while it was not the first time that students of JNU protested the hanging of Afzal Guru this one was being used as a cover up. “In the past students have opposed the death penalty and also raised their voices against capital punishment when Afzal Guru was hanged. But the state of emergency declared on campuses at present is an attempt to divert the attention from the demands of ‘Justice for Rohith Vemula’ movement and to crush the mounting Opposition by students,” said the student.

The protesters have demanded an immediate and unconditional release of Kanhaiya Kumar and the cases against students be withdrawn. They also sought campuses to be free from direct political interventions and freedom of expression for students on various issues.