Kanhaiya Kumar event in Mumbai shifted after ‘pressure’

JNU Students’ Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar will be addressing students at Adarsh Vidyalay in Tilak Nagar on Saturday. The student leader was earlier supposed to speak at the Janata Shikshan Sanstha in Worli, but the venue was allegedly shifted due to pressure from representatives of the “Sangh Parivar”.

The event “Student Youth Assembly Against Discr-imination”, has been organised by Student Federation of India, All-India Demoratic Students organisations, All-India Students’ Federation, Purogami Yuvak Sanghathana and Chhatrabharati.

The organisers who held a press conference in the city on Friday said the change in venue was due to “pressure” created by the Sangh Pariwar. “We followed the rules and procedure, despite that we were denied permission. This denial is due to pressure from certain quarters citing that we did not get any written assurance from the police for protection,” said Ravindra Madne, member of the event organising committee.

The organisers added that while students were excited to hear various leaders speak, the police and the government have created the problem. “They do not want student leaders to express their views. The constituents of Sangh Par-iwar are threatening organisers and also pressurised Janata Sikshan Sanstha to get the programme cancelled,” said Dhanjanjay Kangude, another member of the event organising committee.

When contacted, the Mumbai police refuted the claims and said there is no hostility from them to the programme. “There are baseless rumours being spread via social media that the police is not in support of the programme scheduled on Saturday. We would like to state that a no objection certificate (NoC) is required from the person whose place would be used for the programme. After that is issued, we would provide security to any event,” said a statement issued by the Mumbai police.

Allahabad University Students’ Union president, Richa Singh, vice-president of JNUSU Shehla Rashid and others are slated to speak at the event.