Activists and students from various organisations take part in a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in solidarity with JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: Pritam Bandyopadhyay)
Activists and students from various organisations take part in a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in solidarity with JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: Pritam Bandyopadhyay)
After the Mandal agitation, the city for the first time on Thursday saw a sea of students joining hands to stage a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in solidarity with the Jawaharlal Nehru University and its students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been arrested on sedition charges.
The massive march began with students from JNU and those from various universities in and outside Delhi, including Delhi University, Jamia Millia and Ambedkar, first converging at Mandi House. The students took part in the protest march despite JNU vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar making a fervent appeal to them to reconsider their decision, citing security reasons.
The protesters were joined by JNU alumni from across the country along with Left leaders Brinda Karat and D. Raja, Swaraj Abhiyan founder Yogendra Yadav (JNU alumnus), film actor Swara Bhaskar (JNU alumnus), noted theatre personality M.K. Raina, former NSD director Anuradha Kapur and teachers and activists from different universities. Even a large number of citizens joined the protest march that caused major traffic jams in central Delhi.
It was no ordinary march as students, holding placards and shouting slogans in favour of Mr Kumar, caught the attention of the onlookers, with many of them also raising slogans with the protesters. The protesters also raised slogans against the killing of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula.
The citizens, who took part in the march, said they wanted to send a strong message to political parties that they should stop playing vendetta politics with young students. “The crackdown on political dissent at JNU, the arrest of varsity’s student leader and slapping of sedation charges worryingly reflect a state willing to clamp down on freedom of expression in defence of a nationalism that it alone defines,” a doctor, who joined the march near Kasturba Gandhi Marg, said.
A civil engineer, who marched from Mandi House to the Barakhamba crossing, said: “We had seen similar protests during the Mandal agitation when V.P. Singh was the Prime Minister of the country. Now, this is a wake up call for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Before the situation goes out of hand, the government must take corrective measures.”
Students from the universities in Allahabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Aligarh, held posters and placards in support of the JNU.
Teachers from the Film and Television Institute of India also joined the march. A large number of protesters held roses and other flowers in their hands and raised them in the air in unison at the start of the march and let out a huge defiant cry.
Some placards held by the protesters read, “We are JNUITES, Not Terrorists.” The students were heard shouting slogans like “Repeal the fascist anti-people sedition law,” and “Don’t teach us nationalism.” Many protesters were carrying posters with Mr Kumar’s photograph, others waved white T-shirts with a sketch of the JNUSU president.
Before the march began, Ms Karat addressed the protesters, saying that entire Delhi and India wants Mr Kumar released. “This is the nation’s demand.”
Denouncing the crackdown on the varsity campus, Mr Yogendra Yadav alleged that “the Centre wants to make an example of JNU to further its own right-wing agenda in the country.”
“JNU has been built with a certain vision and this crackdown was just a pretext to target the entire university. JNU was built with an idea, and that idea was intrinsically linked to the idea of India, of democracy. And, now an attempt is being made by them to destroy that idea,” he added.
Addressing the protesters at Jantar Mantar, NSUI president Roji M. John said whatever has happened with the JNU, can happen with the DU tomorrow. “RSS and ABVP are not the people to provide certificates on nationalism to us. Both ABVP and RSS should not forget that they have blood stains of Mahatma Gandhi on them.”
A Ph.D student said Mr Kumar, who stood against anti-national elements, was arrested on sedition charges but people working against the nation were free. Many students blamed the NDA government for mishandling the issue. Some even held the university authorities responsible for the situation. A DU student said, “If the JNU authorities had acted tough, this situation would not have arisen.”
