Image Courtesy: indiatoday.in
Words of support and encouragement have been pouring in from various quarters after the dastardly attack on the students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) by alleged right-wing goons.
In the same vein, Elamaran Kareem, Rajya Sabha MP, has written a letter to the President of India, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind requesting his urgent intervention in the unfortunate incidents that took place in JNU on January 5, 2020. Giving a background of the incidents that took place – the entry of masked goons in the campus, the brutal attack on teachers and JNU students’ union President Aishe Ghosh and the inability of many of the injured students who suffered injuries to move out of the campus.
He wrote, “It is evident that the ABVP students inside the campus with the help of RSS activists who came from outside had unleashed the violence. A WhatsApp group was created for gathering outsiders in the campus to attack the students and teachers. The messages from this WhatsApp group are now out through media and media reports say that the messages were sent to guide the criminals to get inside the campus and the same was sent from the ABVP leaders and activists in the campus to the RSS activists outside.”
He also condemned the involvement of the Delhi Police, terming it to be ‘unfortunate’ saying that instead of controlling the violence and taking action against the criminals who attacked the students and teachers, the Delhi Police allegedly turned against the innocent students inside the campus to save the perpetrators of the crime.
Kareem wrote, “The medical team with ambulance which rushed into JNU to provide medical aid to the injured was stopped and attacked by the mob outside the main gate of JNU. The police did nothing to help the medical team. The tyres of the ambulance were punctured and the glasses were broken. Doctors and volunteers inside the ambulance were dragged out and beaten up brutally in front of the Police officials. Also, the political party leaders were manhandled by the same people in front of the JNU main gate and the police stood there as a mere spectator.”
Kareem, who is a member of the Standing Committee on Labour and on the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises clearly wrote in his letter that the evidence gathered indicated that the unprecedented violence and brutal attack on all the students and teachers of JNU was a “government sponsored act”. He also said that the JNU administration and the Delhi Police were used as an instrument by the Union Government to facilitate the violence.
Calling upon the President for being the custodian of the Indian Constitution and defender of our Democracy, he appealed him to urgently intervene in the utterly serious matter and instruct the Union Government to fulfil its duty and ensure that the people responsible for the violence in JNU were punished at the earliest; apart from urging the President to evict the Vice Chancellor from his post as early as possible.
The entire letter by Rajya Sabha MP Elamaran Kareem may be read here.
On the evening of January 5, 2020, students and teachers of JNU were brutally assaulted by masked goons who, on entering the campus, carried out a targeted attack in a blatant show of right-wing power. Approximately 26 students were injured and the Delhi Police, even after knowing the situation, did nothing to stop the perpetrators.
The ruling government merely condemned the attack and took no concrete action. However, in solidarity with JNU, people from all over India once again came together seeking justice for and demanding a strict probe against the right-win goons and the Delhi Police.
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