New Delhi: A day after students and teachers at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were assaulted and property damaged on the campus, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS’ student wing Monday termed the violence a planned attack by the Left.
“ABVP firmly believes it was pre-planned violence by the Left organisations,” Ashish Chauhan, organising secretary, ABVP, told ThePrint.
The organisation claimed that while it was unable to reach out to its supporters until 10 pm, the Left organisations “had managed to get Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat to be present on the scene”.
“How come these leaders were aware that something like this had happened and arrived so quickly?” Chauhan asked. “How come former JNUSU leader Umar Khalid was able to be at the protest in Mumbai organised at the Gateway of India? This protest, as well as the attack, was known to him.”
He added: “How come foreign universities including Princeton, Harvard were able to start a signature campaign so quickly at around 2-3 am?”
Another ABVP activist claimed that its presidential candidates for 2019 were attacked around 4 pm Sunday. “The ABVP activists were inside and they helped the students to hospitals and many were given shelter in the residence of ABVP activists too,” he said.
Sunil Ambekar, the former national organising secretary of ABVP, denied charges that the organisation was behind the violence. “At least 15 of our activists have been admitted and 25 have sustained injuries. Even the JNUSU president can be seen accompanying the masked people,” he alleged. “Footage is now being checked and an inquiry is on. Not only ABVP students but general students were also beaten up. The truth will come out.”
In a statement, the ABVP also countered the screenshots that are doing the rounds claiming that the organisation was behind the attack. “Fake screenshots of masked men are being widely circulated from spurious Whatsapp groups averring they have ABVP affiliations,” it said. “Such malicious insinuations betray the Left’s own desperation since they have been caught with their hands in the till. Such mischief must be unequivocally condemned by every right-thinking citizen.”
‘They just want to kill the institute’
Ambekar further accused the Left-led JNUSU has been making attempts to stall the admission process over the fee hike, and added that the attacks didn’t happen overnight but had started on 3 January when students wearing masks had allegedly entered the centre for information system and made the servers dysfunctional.
“More than 1,000 registrations had taken place as many students were happy with the fee revision. The fee hike is just an excuse to protest, they just want to kill the institute,” he said. “Those who want to study are unable to. Many had seminars, there were others who had to work on their practicals but laboratories are out of reach for them. They are turning JNU into West Bengal.”
Ambekar said the ABVP will continue its protest to allow the university to resume the registration process. “We were also against fee hike and protested peacefully. The administration revised the charges and what is being charged now is nominal,” he added. “Just like Naxals attack stations, they are attacking institutes now. We will continue with our democratic protests that registration should be allowed. They have to allow an institute to run normally.”
Ambekar also alleged a political angle to Sunday night’s attacks, adding that Congress leaders such as Rahul Gandhi should harbour Prime Ministerial aspirations but not at the cost of students. “Don’t use the students as a pawn. Don’t make the students hostages. If you want to become the PM do some hard work,” he said.
Also read: Delhi Police says masked JNU attackers were students, not outsiders