Nw Delhi, Feb 14
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) on Sunday protested skipping of the "institutional mechanism" by the varsity administration in allowing police on the campus and letting them "make random arrests".
Addressing media persons in the university campus, the association officials also demanded immediate release of JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar.
JNUTA general secretary Vikramaditya Chakravarty said students should not have been arrested randomly and the matter should have been dealt with sensibly.
"JNUTA is of the firm opinion that the matter arising out of the event can and should have been dealt with through established institutional mechanism. Instead of relying on this (mechanism), the university administration allowed police to enter the campus to search different premises and even make random arrests," he said.
A large number of JNU teachers, university students, teachers from Ambedkar university and Federation of All India Central University Teacher's Association gathered in the campus to express solidarity with Kanhaiya Kumar.
They formed a long human chain from the university gate up to Chandrabhaga hostel.
Chakravarty said certain forces were trying to create fear in the students' minds to discourage dissent.
"Forced away from their normal academic activities, the students are out on the street. There is an attempt to create panic that criticism of any kind would entail sedition charges is much more than merely disturbing," he said.
Meanwhile, the university administration has asked all the people to help “maintain a conducive environment to achieve our academic goalsâ€.
“As a university, we would like to focus on academics. Maintaining a conducive environment in JNU to achieve our academic goals. We request everyone to help focus on our main objective without any interference,†said a press statement from the vice chancellor's office.
CPI-M, Congress to rally in Kolkata against Centre's handling of JNU row
Leaders of the CPI-M and the Congress will on Monday walk shoulder-to-shoulder in a rally here to protest against the Centre's bid to "propagate the ideology" of the BJP and the RSS with regard to the happenings at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
"We will protest against the way the administration has become active to propagate the ideologies of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The civil society, various political parties, student bodies and youth will walk in a huge rally," Jadavpur University professor and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Om Prakash Mishra said here on Sunday.
The rallyists will assemble at College Square, and walk three km up to Dorina Crossing.
Among the leaders who would participate in the rally are Congress leaders Abdul Mannan and Arunava Ghosh, Communist Party of India-Marxist's Sujon Chakraborty and Ritrabrata Banerjee, and former Kolkata mayor Bikash Bhattacharya.
"The main issue of the rally is freedom of speech and expression which has come under attack at JNU," said Mishra, a JNU alumnus.
JNU has been on the boil over the arrest of its students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges after some students organised a meet to mourn the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhat. Anti-India slogans were allegedly raised at the gathering.
Delhi Police registered a sedition case on Thursday and arrested Kanhaiya Kumar. He was sent to three days police custody on Friday although he denied raising the slogans.
JNU protesters got support from Hafiz Saeed, says Rajnath
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the demonstration on the JNU campus to mark the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru received "support" from Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed. His remark sparked a political uproar with opposition leaders asking him to furnish evidence.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury posted a series of tweets to question Rajnath Singh on his remark.
"The Union Home Minister has made a very serious allegation about terrorists 'backing' JNU protests. We hope that he has concrete proof," Yechury wrote.
"When we met the Home Minister yesterday (Saturday), he never mentioned Hafiz Saeed to us but only harped on the slogans being raised at the protests.
"This seems to be a case of shifting goalposts with the sole design of tarnishing JNU.
"Considering the gravity of the charge made by no less than the Union Home Minister, we would like him to share the evidence with the country.
"We are concerned as we've seen this earlier with the Home Minister where he deleted his twitter updates about Pathankot attack terrorists," Yechury said.
Rajnath Singh on Sunday told reporters here that what happened at Jawaharlal Nehru University had the support of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and it was very unfortunate.
"What happened in JNU also got support from Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed. The nation must also accept the reality," he said.
While Rajnath Singh did not give any reference for his comment, a tweet recently surfaced from the Twitter handle @HafeezSaeedJUD with the hashtag #PakStandWithJNU that asked Pakistanis to trend the hashtag #SupportJNU for "pro-Pakistani JNUites brothers".
The Twitter handle, however, was not a verified one and it appeared that the tweet was later deleted.
Saeed is wanted in India for the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said Rajnath Singh should share evidence about his remarks concerning Saeed.
"That #HafizSaeed supported the #JNU protests is a very serious charge to level against the students. The evidence must be shared with all.
"The Home Minister must go public with the evidence collected that enabled him to level this charge against the #JNU students #HafizSaeed
"Cracking down on students & using #HafizSaeed to justify the crack down is a new low, even for this NDA government. #JNUCrackdown
"This is the same BJP that Mehbooba Mufti is negotiating with. No wonder she's completely silent & hasn't said a word about the #JNUCrackdown," Abdullah wrote.
Rajnath Singh, in his interaction with the media, also appealed to political parties to unite in opposing incidents where anti-national slogans are raised.
"I want to appeal to all parties, whenever there is an incident where anti-national slogans are raised, we must oppose it with one voice. There should not be attempts to get political gains from such incidents," he said.
On Saturday, the Congress, CPI-M, CPI and JD-U protested against the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges.
Rajnath Singh said anti-national activities would not be tolerated, but added that he had given instructions that the "innocent must be protected".
"Whoever raises anti-national slogans and questions the unity of India will not be spared. I have given the necessary instructions, I have also instructed that those who are innocent should not be harassed," he said.
On the night of February 9, some JNU students organised a meet to mourn the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhat. Anti-India slogans were allegedly raised at the gathering.
Delhi Police registered a sedition case on Thursday and arrested Kanhaiya Kumar. He was sent to three days police custody on Friday although he denied raising the slogans.
