Mocking allegations that students had received foreign funding for organising an event in favour of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Anant Prakash, one of the students charged with sedition case, claimed that it takes only Rs 100 to organise any programme at the varsity.
“Various theories are being applied to probe our terror links and allegations are being made that we had received foreign funding and planned meticulously for the so-called anti-national event. The truth is that those who know the JNU culture are aware of the fact that it takes just '100 to organise any event here and the same can be done without planning within an hour,” said the former JNUSU vice-president, who is among those charged with sedition.
Former JNUSU president Ashutosh Kumar said, “Our names are being taken in court rooms and news studios. They are being screamed in Parliament. The entire country is looking at us as terrorists. But do they even know how things function in JNU and how routinely these affairs are handled.”
“We do not need any funding from any terror group to have a debate on Afzal Guru. Does any university need that We are students, we just wish to debate, qu-estion and express. The way the government and the police have blown thi-ngs out of proportion is an example of the intolerance in the country,” he added.
Mr Prakash and Mr Kumar, both Ph.D. students at the varsity, are among the six students identified by the police for their alleged role in the controversial February 9 event.
While the students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12, the two students along with three others — Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and Rama Naga — had gone in hiding fearing “mob-lynching.” They resurfaced in the campus 10 days later. While Mr Khalid and Mr Bhattacharya surrendered to the police, the remaining three refused to do so but maintained that they are open to questioning by the police as and when needed.
They are now leading the student movement along with JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora aga-inst the alleged branding of university as anti-national.
