Supply Sodium Cynanide and a Rope to every Dalit student-Rohit to the VC a month before he took his life

This letter, dated December 18, 2015 has not been so widely quoted nor has it gone viral. It is a comment on all of us, especially those of us in the media, that we failed to read the warnings or feel the anguish.  After all it is since August 2015 that the social boycott and ostracizing of Dalit students, including Rohith was systematically afoot. That is close to five months ago.

Nearly a month to the day that he tragically gave up the struggle to live and took his own life, on December 18, 2015, a hand-written letter from Rohith Vemula to Vice Chancellor Appa Rao says it all. Taunting and tragic, the note will now be read as a precursor of what was to come. In a hand-written scrawl that hints at acute desperation, he says, “Your Excellency (addressed to the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao) “make preparations for the EUTHANASIA for students like me from the Ambedkarite movement…and may your campus rest in peace forever.”

The letter traces the officially sanctioned “social boycott” of Dalit students after they took on a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for his derogatory remarks to the Dalit students. “Donald Trump will be a Lilliput in front of you,” Rohith tells Appa Rao then offering a piece of chilling advice. “Please serve 10 miligram of Sodium Azide to all the Dalit students at the time of admission…Supply a nice rope to the rooms of all Dalits students..”The text of the letter can be read here and a scanned hand written copy seen here.

Now we know, and fret over the fact that his Rs 25,000 per month stipend (as of all his other suspended colleagues) was stopped after suspension and he had to borrow money, even from home, to survive the struggle. Now that he is dead we listen to the plight and anguish of his family. Why did we not listen before? As the isolation and anguish built up to make Rohith take a step so final that it signalled no return? Yes, we are all to blame.

“After the stipend was stopped, his family was struggling to support him. He borrowed Rs 40,000 from a friend and was living frugally. Almost every day, he used to say that his money was stuck,’’ said Velmula Sankanna, a fellow PhD scholar and one of the other five students who were suspended. “In December, Rohith wrote an angry letter to the V-C, sarcastically asking him to provide euthanasia facilities for Dalit students. Since then, he was scared to go to the administration building and ask about his stipend. He became silent and withdrawn. He said that he was falling into depression because he was being defeated by the system at every turn. He blamed himself, his caste, and the circumstances around him. He did not take much interest in anything except studies,’’ added Sankanna, a close friend.

We did not rise to feel, see or appreciate the seriousness implicit in the warnings. In August 2015, a questionable mode of ‘suspension’ of five singled out students of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) followed by the arbitrary stopping of their scholarship stipend, further followed by their being locked out of their rooms from January 4, 2016. Yet they fought on, sleeping out near the shopping complex in the cold. Awaiting fair hearing, democratic space for protest(s) and justice.

From the night of January 4, 2016 until today the sleep out protests continue.

After the tragic and unnecessary loss of the life of a budding science scholar, a proud Ambedkarite, will justice and fair hearing happen? Yesterday in a fully articulated representation to PL Punia, Chairperson of the National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Commission, the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, University of Hyderabad (UoH) has demanded:

• Punish the Culprits under the SC/ST Atrocities Act:
• Banadaru Dattareya, Union Cabinet Minister of State for Labour and Employment
• P Appa Rao, Vice Chancellor
• Professor Alok Pandey, Chief Proctor
• Susheel Kumar, ABVP President
• Ramchandra Rao, MLC
• Remove P Appa Rao from the post of Vice Chancellor
• Employ a family member of Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad and give his family Rs 50 lahs in compensation
• Drop the fabricated cases against five Dalit Research Scholars immediately and unconditionally
• Revoke the suspension of Students immediately and unconditionally

The Anger Spreads; Demands for resignation of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao

Anger and grief are potent combinations and both were visible in plenty at the mortuary of the Osmania Hospital on Monday, January 18 where Rohith Velumal lay, a day after he tragically ended his own life. His mother’s anguished cry says it all, ““I used to proudly tell everyone in my village that my son was doing PhD at Hyderabad University. Today, I have come to collect his dead body.’’ The family is from Gurazala near Guntur, his mother a tailor and father, Manikumar a security guard at the Hyderabad University. Rohith has two siblings, an elder sister and a younger brother.

Over 1200 students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) participated in a rally on Monday evening and have resolved to protest on Tuesday, January 19 and not allow the university to function until the current Vice Chancellor, Appa Rao steps down. Before the rally, his close friends and colleagues, along with his family were present at the cremation of Rohith in Hyderabad. (see Image story)

Simultaneous and spontaneous protests continued through the day yesterday at Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Mumbai and Delhi. The road outside Shastri Bhavan, the office of Smriti Irani, the Ministry for Human Resources Development (MHRD) was cordoned off akin to a war zone (see pictures). In Hyderabad, a visit from the chairperson of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Commission allayed feelings somewhat.

Though it is Rohith is the one who has made the most recent and most tragic sacrifice, the question is whether it will still open India’s eyes and hearts?

We read every other day not just of the social boycott of Dalit children in the mid day meal schemes. In ‘Dravidian’ politics ruled Tamil Nadu colour bands on Dalit students brand them with their caste. There is little political, social or cultural outrage. The television channels, packed as they are with ‘journalists’ most of whom sport a myopic caste consciousness of the elite Indian that simply excludes any mention of discrimination or exclusion while badgering home ‘the banner of tolerance’, rarely flag anti-Dalit atrocities as an institutional ill to be faced squarely then remedied.
In ‘progressive’ west India the discrimination takes similar forms, and examples abound. In Phugana, three young Dalit children, one a baby was burnt alive in a burst of Rajput rage.

Just like the Blacks fought (and have barely won) the Civil Rights battle in the West – last year’s incidents at Fergusson are evidence of how thinly layered this success is –it is privileged India, caste Hindus who need to hang their heads in acknowledgement, first, and the, shame.

We need to internalize what Dalit students experience when they enter schools, colleges and universities and break the glass ceiling and enter India’s famed institutions of higher learning, the IITs, the IIMs and Universities.

Not only is the percentage of Dalit students who enter higher educational institutions small. They are subject to insidious caste practices and exclusion that batters the hard earned self-esteem. A dangerous argument of ‘meritocracy’ cloaks well organized money and caste induced privilege.

This everyday institutional and societal exclusion and othering needs to be acknowledged squarely by each and one of us.

It is time we ask difficult ourselves some hard and uncomfortable questions.

What kind of history do we teach? Who are our heroines and heroes?
How many Dalits are there in the media, print and television?
How many Dalits in Institutions of power and governance?

The Dalit experience says that entering the corridors of elite educational institutions like Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT) and Indian Institute of Managements and Central Universities for scores of Dalit students is like walking into a living hell, where the fear of being shamed and humiliated hangs heavy on the heart and soul of every student.

Before Rohit, we lost Senthil Kumar and Nagaralu Koppalas, also in the Central University of Hyderabad. Have these earlier losses, deaths of young men in their prime been internalized and taught the UoH any lessons worth learning? The recent and continuing unfair suspension of Dalit scholars would appear to suggest that no lessons have yet been learned.

Is India willing ready and able to accept her Not So Hidden Apartheid?

The post Rohith’s death: We are all to blame appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are reported to have stormed into the campus of St. Xavier’s College in Mapusa Goa, allegedly to protest against the non-formation of students’ council in the college.

These student members, also studying in other institutes even reportedly abused the Principal of the college while raising slogans of “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. The teachers alleged that these miscreants even insulted them.

The Principal of the college released a video statement and said that around 10.30 am on January 21 a group of boys and girls including three  students of the college stormed in to the college’s science block and while classes were in progress were shouting slogans. They were carrying ABVP banners and  were instigating students to leave th3ee classes and join their protest.

Science practicals were going on at that time and the miscreants tried to disrupt the same. Even after police intervention, the mob continued to raise slogans and create a ruckus. “Being the largest college in Goa, safety of our students and staff is our priority. Hence, for their safety classes were stopped and students were requested to leave the campus in order to avoid any untoward incident,” he said.

The Mamlatdar of Bardez was able to bring the situation under control. The college categorically condemned such behaviors and then principal requested all students to dissociate themselves from such unruly activities.

Related:

SC Stays Arrest of Indore Professor in ‘Hinduphobic’ Book Case

‘You want to arrest a college principal for a book found in the library? Are you serious?’: Supreme Court asks MP govt

The post Goa: ABVP disrupts classes in St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A Sabrangindia Special

India’s campuses have become the favoured site for the brute implementation of a militaristic agenda. With the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula (January 17, 2016), the sustained and violent attack on the JNU Campus and criminalization of protests including incarceration of Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar (2016), this regime in its first term had made its intentions clear. Then came the disappearance of post graduate student, Najeeb in which ABVP’s clearly alleged role has been left uninvestigated. There were also sustained attacks on the FTII, Pune, Pondicherry university and Hyderabad Central University (HCU) that was completely fortified off by the authorities.

That was then, the first term. Now, as we are nearing the end of 2022, we see how over the past year especially, as before, the immunity enjoyed by the ABVP continues.

From the campus of the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, the ABVP’s hand in fomenting targeted incidents is visible

The past eight years, coinciding with the brute majority earned by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre has seen the aggressive, often violent, activities of the RSS-affiliate, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) especially on the nation’s university campuses. Law enforcement agencies and governments have displayed a visible soft touch in curtailing these, ensuring that they function with complete impunity.

December 4, 2022, between two rounds of elections in the state, ABVP members forced the Ahmedabad-based HA College Principal chant “Jai Sri Ram” and made him apologize to students who were rebuked earlier for raising slogans during an ongoing class. Sources told the Times of India that a couple of days ago, a few students had started shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan while the class was in progress at the HA College which is affiliated to the GLS University and is on the GLS campus near the Law Garden in the city. The teacher had earlier rebuked these students for disrupting the class and took them to the college principal, Sanjay Vakil. Vakil had scolded these students and made them write an apology letter. “The teacher later brought them to me and I also scolded them. Today, some students affiliated with ABVP came to the principal’s office and created a ruckus. They started chanting ‘Ram Dhun’ and demanded an apology from the principal for hurting religious sentiments,” said Bhalchandra Joshi, the provost of GLS University. Joshi said that the principal apologized to them explaining that he had no intention of hurting anyone’s religious sentiments. Sources said that the ABVP members forced the principal to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ with them and made him apologize to the students whom he had rebuked earlier.

December 1/2, 2022, a law college principal in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was forced to resign. The decision, was precipitated by pressure exerted by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing affiliated with the RSS. Hours after putting in his papers, the academic was booked for promoting enmity amongst religious groups along with three of his colleagues. His travails began on December 1, when ABVP members submitted a memorandum, alleging “religious fundamentalist thoughts being promoted by four Muslim teachers of the college”. A day later, the activists took offence to the presence of a book, Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System, in the institution’s library. Portions of the book, according to them, showed the RSS in poor light.

December 1, 2002, students of the Delhi University (DU) protesting demanding the release of GN Saibaba were gheraoed and attacked reportedly by ABVP persons who also injured some students and gheraoed the hospital where they were being treated. Around five students of Delhi University were seriously injured after they were allegedly attacked by over 50 Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members during a protest demanding the release of former DU professor GN Saibaba. The attack on students involved with the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) were, according to Quint first attacked with stones and then lathis.

December 2, 2022, six professors were pulled off duty in the same college in MP on the strongarm tactics of the ABVP. The Indore-based Shasakiya Navin Vidhi Mahavidyalay (Government New Law College) pulled off six teachers, including four Muslims, off duty temporarily on complaints by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who accused them of promoting fundamentalism and ‘negative thoughts’ about the government and Army These teachers will now not be allowed to teach classes for five days while a judicial inquiry is conducted into the allegations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated student union, the college principal said on Thursday, December 1. It was Dipendra Thakur, head of the ABVP unit at the college, who alleged in a complaint to principal Dr Inamur Rahman that some teachers promoted ‘religious fundamentalism and negative thoughts about the government and the Army’ among first-year students. Further he also said that on Fridays, the principal, Muslim teachers, and students offer namaaz and during this time classes are not held. 

August 30,2022, a week after ABVP blamed him for security guards’ ‘attack’ on students, JNU rector was compelled to resign. Reportedly, along with student organisations, the students affiliated to the ABVP, were demanding disbursal of ‘pending’ fellowship grants clashed with JNU security guards last week, with both sides going on to get FIRs registered against each other.  While the university administration claimed that two guards were beaten up “mercilessly” by the students, the ABVP JNU unit, in a press statement issued after the incident, laid the blame on the rector.

The ABVP statement had read, “It should be known that this attack on the students was done at the behest of Dr Ajay Dubey of JNU, who is also the varsity’s rector. The JNU rector has been already exposed for running two ‘illegal’ NGOs from his JNU address. “The two NGOs in question are the Organisation for Diaspora Initiatives (ODI) and the African Studies Association of India (ASAI). Dubey has denied the accusations, which were reportedly made by a group of teachers.

July 30 2022, ABVP Activists Storm Karnataka Home Minister’s Residence (Jnanendra’s bungalow at Jayamahal in Bengaluru) In Protest Over BJP Leader’s Murder. These activists affiliated to the ABVP were protesting the killing of BJYM leader Praveen Nettar, who was killed in Dakshin Kannada district on Tuesday. They were baton-charged on Saturday when they barged into the residence of Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra in a protest over the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing leader in Dakshina Kannada district. 

June 10, 2022, clash between the ABVP and Campus Front of India (CFI) affiliated to the mow banned Popular Front of India (PFI) at the University College, a constituent college of Mangalore University, at Hampankatta with three students were admitted to a hospital stating that they suffered minor injuries in the clash. Reportedly the clash took place over a matter relating to some students mounting portraits of Veer Savarkar and Bharat Mata above the black board in a classroom without the permission of the college on June 6. The college removed the portraits the next day. Some students had complained to the principal about the portraits. And, a video clipping of the students mounting the portraits had gone viral on social media.

May 23, 2022, reported clashes at Gorakhpur Varsity as ABVP Calls DJ at College Fest ‘Porn Star’. ABVP members arrived at Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology to submit a memorandum against the college fest hosting DJ Zabylla, whose show they claimed was ‘obscene’.

 Half a dozen people were injured in a clash at a Gorakhpur university after activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad allegedly stormed the campus claiming that an Indonesian DJ who performed at the college fest was “obscene” and a “porn star.”

ABVP has filed a police complaint against three, including two teachers of the university, accusing them of attempt to murder, assault and rioting. The university has also filed a complaint against ABVP activists.Gorakhpur’s Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology (MMMUT) had invited Indonesian DJ, Zabylla, to perform at the annual cultural event of the varsity, ‘Tech Srijan 2022’. Various academic and cultural programmes were also part of the annual fest.  Terming the ABVP’s allegations as baseless and an attempt to defame the varsity, Vice-Chancellor J.P. Pandey told various media houses that ABVP activists stormed the campus without any prior notice to submit the memorandum and started raising slogans in an aggressive manner. “College authorities tried to pacify the protesters, invited them to discuss the matter and told them that their allegations were not true,” he added. Pandey also directly alleged that the ABVP activists misbehaved with the teachers, which angered the varsity students.  “Shubham Chaurasia, a final year student of the university, suffered grave injuries in the clash,” Pandey said.

After this violent clash, the Council has been asked to submit a report, Pandey said. In addition, a committee of four teachers have been directed to submit a report after investigating the complaints of the ABVP about the event. This committee was supposed to submit a report on the incident of May 19.  Pandey has also written a letter to the District Magistrate requesting him to nominate an administrative officer and a police officer to the committee so that a fair investigation can be conducted. The V-C also said that the university, too, has lodged a complaint at the Cantonment police station.

May 18, 2022, professor of Lucknow University Ravi Kant Chandan, a Dalit thinker, was physically assaulted –for the second time–by a student leader associated with Samajwadi Party’s student wing on Wednesday, May 18. This was the second such attack on Chandan in about a week since he made comments deemed “derogatory” by Hindutva outfits in connection with the ongoing row into Gyanvapi mosque and Kashi Vishwanath Mandir. On May 10, eight days before, he faced a physical attack from the members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The latest attack, on May 18, was carried out by one Karthik Pandey of the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha, the student wing of the Samajwadi Party. Chandan was attacked near the proctor’s office on the campus moments after leaving the Hindi department after delivering a lecture there.

The attack stunned everyone on the campus as Samajwadi Chatra Sabha, along with several other student bodies and faculty members, protested on Tuesday, May 17, at the Lucknow University gate against the ABVP attack on Professor Chandan and lent its support.

Apeil 10, 2022, a clash between students affiliated to left student organisations and others with the RSS-affiliate, the ABVP broke out after then Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh o accused Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members of stopping students from eating non-vegetarian food on campus and thereafter indulging in violence. Left members also accused ABVP members of resorting to stone-pelting in the evening in which some students were injured. The mess secretary was also allegedly attacked by ABVP students. Deputy commissioner of police (Southwest) Manoj C said six persons from both sides have sustained minor injuries. 

February 15, 2022:  ABVP members on Tuesday protested outside the Tamil Nadu Bhavan in the national capital demanding the probe in the Thanjavur student suicide case be transferred to the CBI. ABVP Delhi State Secretary Siddharth while talking to ANI alleged that the accused in the case were welcomed by the ministers in the state government when they were released from jail. “To ensure an independent investigation, the state government should distance itself from the probe,” he said. He also demanded that the members of ABVP who are arrested for protesting outside CM house over the same issue should be released immediately.

February 4, 2020, following attacks, ABVP, SFS students hold protests at Panjab University. Protests and counter protests were held amidst slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘SFS hooliganism will not be tolerated’, members of the ABVP gathered to condemn the attack outside Boys Hostel No 3, which had left one of its members severely injured on Saturday evening. Several SFS members at the protest claimed that the attack took place in response to the lewd and “misogynistic” comments that Divyansh, the ABVP student who was attacked, had posted on a Facebook group (reported by The Indian Express). “We cannot tolerate those who treat women like this, and post such derogatory comments,” said some SFS members during the protest.

After the attack which took place on Saturday night, Divyansh registered an FIR naming four members of SFS, including the PU SFS president Varinder Singh. The FIR was registered under the Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 147 (for rioting), 141 (show of criminal force) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. Following the incident, an SFS student, Antarpreet Singh, who was also named in the FIR, was allegedly attacked outside Boys Hostel No 1 by a few ABVP members on that night. “I was outside the Boys Hostel No 1 when they attacked me. They tore off my turban and said you survived 1984 but you will not survive anymore,” said Antarpreet. A DDR was registered regarding the incident and the police said, it needs to conduct an inquiry before registering an FIR.

January 31, 2022, police used violence to control two protests reportedly against both the ABVP which was protesting the delay in issuance of marks cards, another organisation comprising Bangalore University Post Graduate and Research Scholars was protesting condemning the recent incident of a district judge asking officials to remove the photo of Dr BR Ambedkar during the 73 Republic Day programme in Raichur. Jurisdictional police officials denied any such incident took place

Violence had broken out on the Jnanabharati Campus of Bangalore University after the city police resorted to hitting protesting student activists of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) with lathis (sticks). Jurisdictional police officials however have denied any such incident ever took place!

December 15, 2021, an incident at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), members of the right-wing student outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly attacked a study circle organized by students to discuss an essay by Friedrich Engels, a 19^th century German philosopher of repute. This an eye-witness account of the incident.

November 14, 2021 members of ABVP, most of them upper-caste men, disrupted a study circle that was going to be held in Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) office, Teflas at 9 p.m. by Hundred Flowers Group on Friedrich Engels’ essay, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific. ABVP was quick to jump in to disrupt the academic exercise, with its divisive and violent politics. After forcibly occupying the office, restraining the members of the study circle, and disrupting the discussion, the members of ABVP attacked the students who wanted to attend the session and study. The office-bearers of ABVP along with the newly inducted members allegedly harassed women and assaulted many students present at the office. When some students attempted to take the injured ones to the hospital, the ABVP members forcibly intercepted the movement and assaulted the student who had fainted. The saga of atrocity didn’t stop here. From shouting caste and gender insensitive cuss words to disrupting democratic dialogue and arbitrarily inciting one-sided violence, these ABVP members damaged property, tore books and broke tambourines. Their sloganeering, which has been recorded, was filled with offensive statements, caste remarks and ridicule.

[[ On the next evening of November 15, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) took out a rally on Monday evening in protest the attack on students by alleged members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Sunday. Hundreds of students took part in the protest rally.  JNUSU had alleged that students belonging to ABVP heckled and attacked students who had booked the JNU union room for a reading session on Sunday, November 14. Several students sustained injuries during the attack.

In a statement posted on social media right before the attack started, Students’ Federation of India (SFI), JNU, said: “In a continuation of ABVP’s hooliganism on campus — the union room booked by an organisation to conduct a reading session has been occupied by them. The organisation has been campaigning for the conduct of this session for the past few days.”  The statement also added that ABVP goons were refusing to leave the room and were resorting to tactics of criminal intimidation. “SFI-JNU calls on all democratic students to reach the union office and protect campus democracy from ABVP’s lumpenism,” it said.]]

October 29, 2021, an obvious pattern emerges from the ABVP’s intimidation tactics when a similar major incident propagating hate against minorities, and which resulted in the violence against students from the minority communities took place (October 29, 2021). Then, the Centre for Women’s Studies, JNU, had announced a webinar on ‘Gendered Resistance & Fresh Challenges in Post 2019 Kashmir’. Without understanding the academic context in which the webinar was being organized, ABVP complained against the same and began its usual extremist narrativization. The webinar was cancelled followed by a Victory March organized by ABVP, which was filled with threats and warnings to the students. Abuse and hate were taken to the next level when ABVP members reportedly also verbally abused minority students.

January 16, 2020, Anti-CAA protest: ABVP members attacked us at Visva Bharati University, alleged SFI activists; The two students who were attacked had taken part in a protest BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta on January 8. The ABVP has, however, denied its involvement and said the activists are not a part of the organisation. Two students of Visva Bharati University were allegedly attacked by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists for supporting anti-CAA protest inside the campus. The two students belonging to the Students Federation of India (SFI) had taken part in a protest BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta on January 8. The ABVP has, however, denied its involvement and said the activists are not a member of the organisation.

The students from the Economics department – identified as Swapnaneel Mukhopadhyay and Phalguni Pan– have reportedly been admitted to Pearson Memorial Hospital. According to them, ABVP members Achintya Bagdi and Sabbir Ali beat them up with sticks when they were returning to their hostel and tried to attack them inside the hospital. They also alleged that the guards had to lock the hospital gates to prevent another assault.  On January 8, SFI members confined BJP MP Dasgupta, Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty, and several others to a room for over seven hours to protest the university’s decision to invite Dasgupta to deliver a lecture on the new citizenship law.

January 5, 2020:   ABVP members barged into JNU hostels, attacked students with sticks, claims JNUSU. Students at Sabarmati Hostel, Mahi Mandvi Hostel, Periyar Hostel of the JNU were attacked on Sunday evening. The JNUSU has alleged that the attack was orchestrated by RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). “The ABVP attackers, with covered faces, are trying to enter Periyar Hostel by climbing the pipes,” the JNUSU said on Twitter, adding, “ABVP members wearing masks were moving around on the campus with lathis, rods, and hammers”.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and a few faculty members reportedly helped the masked mob enter the campus to unleash a brutal attack on students and teachers of the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on January 5. While the Delhi Police has portrayed the JNU violence case as a result of a clash between “Right” and “Left”, it was in fact an ABVP-led attack, assisted by some newly-recruited faculty members who sympathise with the saffron students’ group and the university administration helmed by vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar had then stated the JNUSU (Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union). At around 6 am, on January 5, 2020 a few masked guards were seen moving aggressively towards a group of protesting students who sat in front of the School of Biotechnology (SBT). Alarmed, students made many SOS calls to JNUSU office-bearers. When JNUSU president, Aishe Ghosh reached there at around 7 am, the masked guards allegedly slapped and assaulted her. He said a few ABVP students also joined the guards to beat up protesting students. It is after this incident, according to various students, that the protesting group switched off the main switch of the CIS server system which is near the SBT in protest.

The situation soon escalated after ABVP jumped in. ABVP leaders on campus mobilised their activists in front of the School of International Studies between 10 am to noon. Moon claimed that faculty members like Tapan Kumar Bihari, Ashwini Mohapatra, Jaikhlong Basumatary and Nagendra Srinivas came in support of the ABVP and led the group which assaulted many students, including many women, through the day. He also alleged that the said teachers repeatedly provoked the ABVP activists to beat up protesting students. JNUSU general secretary Satish Chandra Yadav was also attacked by this mob. On the same day, the ABVP mob gathered at various places of the university and assaulted many students without any provocation. It has been alleged that all this happened in the presence of the police personnel who were stationed in JNU since 23 December.

The JNUSU even named many ABVP members and a few faculty members who were seen participating in attacks on students. It also released videos which show them as part of the mob, demanding an inquiry against them. It also showed emails sent from JNU administration from the time when the registrar had claimed the servers were down. The JNUSU said that servers were functioning throughout and there was no grave damage to them because of the protesting students. To date, despite video and electronic footage revealing the aggressive activities of the ABVP-led mob, not only has no fair investigation taken place, but no one has been detained or arrested.

January 17, 2017:  Brutally carrying on its ‘campaign’ to free Delhi University’s campus of ‘anti-national’ elements, the supremacist Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad attacked other students protesting the violent way the RSS-linked organisation had disrupted a programme at Ramjas college the previois day. The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) All India Students’ Association (AISA) had organized a march from Ramjas college to Maurice Nagar police station to protest the cancellation of a seminar in which JNU’s Umar Khalid was supposed to speak. The Hindustan Times had then that at least 100 police personnel in riot gear were brought in while the Hindu also reported   that the police resorted to lathi-charging to control the situation.

As dozens of thugs wielding lathis laid siege inside the college, students and teachers who were participating in the march to uphold the freedom of expression on campus were caught in the fray. According to a detailed NDTV report at the time, at least 20 people were injured, and some journalists were also caught in the clashes. While the ABVP denied attacking the students and teachers, Shehla Rashid, then Vice President, JNUSU, who was also invited to Ramjas for the seminar, has been quoted by NDTV as saying, “We were attacked, the cops did nothing. Our students were bleeding. They hurled bricks at us…They pulled the hair of women.”

October 15, 2016, Sinister disappearance of PHD student, Najeeb who had been pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from New Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). One evening -in October 2016 –after a minor altercation with the aggressive members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the very next day he went missing. Najeeb’s friends have suspected foul play and Fatima started demanding an explanation about what happened to her son. No action has been taken against the ABVP or its members.

March-April 2016: Criminalisation of Protests and Incarceration of Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar (this was repeated in 2018 and today, Khalid remains a serious target, being in jail for several months over the protests to the Citizenship Act 2019-NPR-NRC under the dreaded UAPA law.

January 17, 2016, the Institutional murder (suicide) of Student Icon, Rohith Vemula at the Hyderabad Central University led to sustained protests over the suspension of Appa Rao Podile, the vice chancellor. Every attempt was made to curtail and prevent the protests.

Immunity comes with State Power

All these listed incidents, and they are simply illustrative of the ABVP’s growing clout on India’s campuses, reveal how immunity from swift and fair action from law enforcement comes from the proximity of the outfit with state power. Be it Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, or the capital city of Delhi – policed by a force under the direct control of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) this immunity flows from the ideology of the outfits in power.

Questioning, thinking probing young minds with the ability for independent and analytical thought are a threat to a regime that believes in policing free expression and stratifying and controlling state and society.

In all the instances here, and more which may not be listed here, the strategy is simple. After creating an atmosphere of intimidation and terror, ABVP members use violence accompanied by verbal abuse. They are rarely pulled up, no police action, never do they face prosecution. Opponents to their ideology are “warned” by ABVP men and women on the prowl to “leave the campus.” Bullying is common, the hooliganism includes use of ridicule, obscene gestures, sexist parlance and even threats of gendered violence, rape. Provocative and stigma-driven slogans against student voices from India’s minority communities has cornered and isolated them further. Yet, despite these organized attacks, student organisations have resisted.

India’s campuses, once safe, diverse, defiant, and vibrant are today sought to be converted into controlled military camp like outfits, policed and fearful. Despite crude and consistent political attacks however, vibrancy still prevails, and the battle is still, very much on.

Related:

Hate watch: ABVP alleged WhatsApp chats leaked; calls for targeted crimes exposed?

M.P. police: author of book on Collective Violence & Criminal Justice’ arrested from Pune

Madhya Pradesh: Home minister Narottam Mishra orders arrest of author, threatens to revoke PHD

Six Govt Law college teachers taken off duty after ABVP complaint: MP

The post ABVP’s strong arm tactics have received a soft touch from law enforcement & the Indian state: 2014-2022 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A public meeting at Delhi University, organised  by  Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch was interrupted, allegedly by members of the right wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the student organisation affiliated to the Rashtriya  Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party. The disturbance was sudden, after the  families of rape victims of Butana (haryana) and of Gurmandi (Delhi) were recounted the horrific crimes, and studnets activist Rajveer Kaur of the bsCEM was speaking about the state crackdown on women activists such as Sudha Bharadwaj and others. The event at  Arts Faculty, University Of Delhi was being live streamed when the camera panned right to a possible disturbance, Kaur was heard asking people not to disrupt the programme, when suddenly two women ran towards her, and another man was heard shouting Bharat Mata Ki Jai off camera. Delhi police personnel, including women constables, also ran towards the disruption. Though someone was heard saying “why are you hitting them”, it was not clear if any physical violence had ensued.

What followed was mayhem, still being live streamed, as more police personnel arrived on the scene, urging the Delhi University students to end their Women’s Day programme. Ironically the programme was titled “Let the Women Speak,” and now the speakers were being asked to shut the show down and leave the premises. The ruckus continued for a long time and the Delhi Police were seen wheeling in metal  barricades to cordon off the area. 

On this 113th International Working Women’s day, the event, according to the organisers, was to “bring the women voices together that rose against repression, atrocities”. The title ‘Let the Women Speak’ they stated was to give a platform to those who were struggling to seek justice from what they termed was a “Fascist Regime.” There was a small poster exhibition, at the site, and a quiet group of students and a couple of teachers and others who had gathered to listen to, Labour Rights Activist, Nodeep Kaur speak. Other speakers were the Gurhmandi rape victim’s aunt Kusum, who is still seeking justice for the victim, and the Kavita mother of the Butana girl who has alleged she was raped in police custody and others.  Shaheen Bagh Protest icon Bilkis Bano was also named in the list of speakers issued earlier. 

However, the disruption took the evening in another direction completely. According to the organisers, local police may have detained student activists  Ravinder, Varkey and Anil. Activists Rajveer Kaur, Sangeeta, Monica alleged that they were attacked and were seen in another video waiting outside the police station. The live stream may be viewed here:

https://www.facebook.com/bscem.du/videos/441775567073757

Related

Three Girls, submissive no more: Contemporary artists adapt Amrita Sher-Gil’s painting
A 17-year-old Dalit girl was found hanging in Delhi, why is no one asking questions about it?
Delhi Police allegedly detain 25 women and a toddler

The post Student group meeting disrupted at Delhi University, allegedly by right wing union appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Rohith (right) carrying a poster of Ambedkar along with other belongings, after his suspension

Rohith Vemula will live on

Anguished and shocked at Rohith’s death, expelled students vow to continue the protest with support of others

Nationwide protests will take place following the suicide by Vemula Rohith, a Dalit student at the university of Hyderabad (UoH) on the evening of Sunday, January 17. The first protest, spontaneous and angry, took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) late night, about 9.30 p.m. on Sunday January 17, 2016 itself. Vemula Rohith left a poignant suicide note before he took his life by hanging himself in the room of a colleague-friend in Hyderabad.

The next protest will take place outside the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) and its minister, Smriti Irani at 2 p.m. on Monday January 18. Irani had, according to protesting students and a letter written by a ruling party Member of Parliament (MP)—see https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/we-shall-not-be-silenced-protest-against-expulsion-dalit-research-scholars — obviously interfered in the matter of unlawful suspension of five PHD students and in protecting the student saffron wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The students belonging to the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) of which Rohith Vemula was an active part, had been furthering a debate on issues related to social justice, including communalism, ensuring that they get effectively flagged on the campus. Irani’s alleged interference can be traced to a letter written by none less than Bandaru Dattatreya , Secunderabad BJP MP and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, to the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) dubbing ASA “casteist, extremist and anti-national”. The communication demanded that the “dynamic leadership” of Smriti Irani, Minister of Human Resources and Development, bring about a “change for the better” in the institution. The ‘change for the better’ in ideological terms (for the Sangh Parivar) meant overruling an earlier decision of former Vice Chancellor of the University RB Sharna who revoked an earlier suspension of the same students after the decision was found to be not in accordance with the decision taken by the Proctorial Board of the UoH (August-September 2015). Sharma soon retired after which the newly appointed and more politically compliant, Appa Rao ‘fell in line’ with Dattarayera’s communication and Irani’s interventions.

Anguished at the loss of life of one of their own, one of the five PHD students unlawfully suspended, students from the ASA and other students organizations including the Students Federation of India (SFI) told Sabrangindia that though deeply disturbed there is a steely determination among the students that the late night, sleep out protest will continue.

Vemula Rohith, was one of the five PHD students who had been expelled had been successfully protesting the high-handedness of the authorities, sleeping out in the open since the night of January 4, 2016, when the doors to their rooms were illegally locked though they had been quietly studying in their rooms following the suspension. Sabrangindia had carried a story on the protest on January 12. His colleagues were in a day-long meeting and it appears that Rohith Vemula hanged himself in another room of his friend-colleague on Sunday evening. The 28-year-old, hailing from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, was a Ph.D second year student. His letter tells a poignant tale
 

“Good morning, 
 I would not be around when you read this letter. Don’t get angry on me. I know some of you truly cared for me, loved me and treated me very well. I have no complaints on anyone. It was always with myself I had problems. I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write. 

I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our beliefs colored. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt. 
The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust. In very field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living. 
I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense. 

May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. 

I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this. 

People may dub me as a coward. And selfish, or stupid once I am gone. I am not bothered about what I am called. I don’t believe in after-death stories, ghosts, or spirits. If there is anything at all I believe, I believe that I can travel to the stars. And know about the other worlds. 

If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them back. But please pay that to him from that. 
 Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive. 

 “From shadows to the stars.” 

 Uma anna, sorry for using your room for this thing. 
 
To ASA family, sorry for disappointing all of you. You loved me very much. I wish all the very best for the future. 

For one last time, Jai Bheem 

I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself. 

No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. 

This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. 

Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone. “

A Hindi translation of the note left by Rohith Vemula can be seen here
 
It is a battle for freedom of expression. The Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) decided to screen Muzaffarnagar Baqi Hai on campus last year (2015). The ABVP tried, unsuccessfully, to disrupt the screening. The saffron outfit began abusing students affiliated to the ASA on facebook and social media. Widespread protests by all students at this hate-mongering forced the student to submit a written apology. However, local BJP and RSS supporters joined with ABVP to force the VC to expel the ASA leaders on fabricated charges, although, a committee appointed by the VC had already given a favourable report finding no fault in the ASA or the students affiliated to it.

The persuasion in this communication appears to have worked. The Vice Chancellor buckled under pressure and without looking into the background of the case or even hearing the students, expelled them.

This expulsion from the hostel of five Dalit student leaders of the Ambedkar Students Association(ASA) at the Hyderabad Central University is illustrative of the manner in which politico-ideological considerations and governmental authority are being abused with impunity to suppress all points of view other than the self professed ‘nationalism’ of the Hindutva  brigade. Another reason for the expulsion was the claim that they had opposed the death sentence to Yakub Memon!

Several students groups from the university have also launched a legal battle. They have challenged the University of Hyderabad (UoH)’s decision to expel five Dalit scholars for allegedly attacking a student and a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).  Seeking justice, the suspended students, on December 18, filed a writ petition in the Hyderabad High Court. This development has come in the wake of university issuing orders, banning the Dalit scholars from hostels, barring their entry into common places in groups, administration building and disallowing their participation in students union elections as a punishment.

The unique sleep out research protest of the research scholars is backed by 10 student outfits on campus. Student supporters have been gathering singing slogans and participating in the seep out protests. All of us all over India most now organise protests and sleep out protests against the highhanded intolerance and authoritarianism of the present government.  The death of Rohith Vemula must not go in vain. 

The post A letter that should shake our world: Dalit scholar suicide triggers outrage appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post JNU violence must be investigated by a judicial commission appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the student’s union elections held on December 8 at Varanasi’s Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, the ABVP lost all the tops posts to NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) which is the Congress party’s student wing.

NSUI candidates won the top 4 posts, president, vice-president, general secretary and library secretary becoming a big reason for celebration for Congress worker in Varanasi as well as Lucknow. This win has come with an impeccable timing for the Congress. After masked goons attacked the JNU campus on January 5, there were strong affirmations that the attacked was carried out by ABVP “goons” by JNU students and many others condemning the attack. Some screenshots of Whatsapp messages were doing the rounds on social media allegedly belonging to ABVP group planning as well as celebrating the attack on JNU. Whereas ABVP had blamed the violence on “Naxals” and leftist students while also claiming that they were carrying lathis for self defence.

This win for Congress possibly indicates that the students believed in this allegation against the ABVP and hence voted for the Congress student wing. This probably indicates a shift in student’s sentiment towards right-wing, the same students who are going to be voting in the next state election of Uttar Pradesh. In this is really an indication then it as spelled trouble for the BJP.

Of the total 1,950 students, 99 casted their votes in the polls. Shivam Shukla was elected as the President defeating ABVP’s Harshit Pandey and Chandan Kumar Mishra became the vice-President defeating ABVP’s Gaurav Dubey by a margin of 71 votes.

Harshit Pandey, after the results were declared said, “We also worked hard but are sad that we could not make it.” Congress general Secretary, Priyanka Gandhi tweeted congratulatory message

https://twitter.com/priyankagandhi/status/1215158143140818944

So proud of @nsui for the fantastic results at Sampoornanad Sanskrit University: 4 out of 4!! Well done!!

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) January 9, 2020

The victorious candidates were reportedly escorted home by the police after being administered oath.

Related:

JNU VC Jagadesh Kumar makes 1st visit to Univ after Jan 5 Attack
Solidarity pours in for brutally attacked JNU students and teachers
JNU‘s fee hike fight an eyesore for the admin and Govt.?
FIR on injured JNUSU President invites ire of many
Eerie calm at JNU, women students leave hostel

The post ABVP loses top posts in Varanasi’s Sanskrit University student union elections appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Post the dastardly attack by the alleged goons of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the alumni of the University gave a call for an ‘alumni march’ in solidarity with all those who were injured in the attack, and the inaction of the police and the administration in the matter.

The march was held on January 7, 2020 and saw attendance from scores of former students including former JNUSU President Sitaram Yechury who joined in to support the cause. Prakash Karat, Kanhaiya Kumar, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav and social activist Bezwada Wilson to stood in solidarity.

In their appeal for the alumni to come together to condemn the attack they had written, “This ‘Alumni March’ is in Solidarity with the Students Teachers and Karmacharis of JNU, who have been targets of unprecedented attacks on all their democratic rights from the time that the present VC was foisted upon JNU four years ago.”

They added, “These four years have seen systematic attacks on the culture of academic freedom and the traditions of debate and dissent and inclusion that were the bed-rock of the academic brilliance that JNU is recognised for. It is these values that have seen serious erosion during the tenure of the present VC and his administration.”

Condemning the attack in the most unequivocal terms and the use of armed goons brought to attack the people of JNU on January 5, 2020, they demanded the restoration of the old admission policy and the withdrawal of the fee hike, the restoration of all democratic rights and democratic institutions in the University, a judicial enquiry instituted by the MHRD to punish those responsible for the attack and the immediate removal of the present Vice Chancellor as the first step to restore normalcy in the campus.

Related:

Terror has been repeatedly unleashed on JNU, lest we forget the disappearance of young Najeeb, and several times before
Eerie calm at JNU, women students leave hostel
JNU‘s fee hike fight an eyesore for the admin and Govt.?

The post JNU alumni calls for solidarity march to condemn January 5 attack appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has now for some time been in the throes of controversy and has become a hotbed of violence against students.

On January 5, 2020, alleged right-wing goons from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) unleashed their horror on the students and teachers alike, beating them up with iron rods, brutally injuring them and damaging property at the campus.

Since then, news channels have erupted with shrill opinions, some claiming that the Left leaders themselves staged a fake attack to paint a false picture of the right-wing and others claiming that it was in fact an attack by the ABVP to quell the ongoing strike at the JNU.

What actually happened?

Since November 2019, JNU has been fighting for affordable education ever since the Inter Hall Administration (IHA) announced an almost 300% fee hike, putting the education of students from the backward and marginalized communities at risk.

The JNU students union (JNUSU) came down heavily on the administration for not taking the say of the main stakeholders – the students. Massive protests broke out, with the students taking to the streets and raising slogans against the administration for ordering the fee hike and demanding that it be completely revoked.

The protest went on for weeks, but took a turn for the worst when on the day of convocation, thousands of students came out on the roads and were met with violence by the Delhi Police which baton-charged them and used water cannons to stop them. Students were brutally beaten up by the cops and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was brought in to disperse the protestors.

Because a public-funded university was being put on the path of privatisation, the students fought tooth and nail, injuries notwithstanding, to get the administration to revoke the fee hike. However, the treatment meted out to the students by the administration was utterly disappointing, with the Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, not even once making an effort to address the issues fof the students.

Seeing the intensity of the protest, the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) intervened, but did not offer any solution to the students. The protest stretched through the month of December 2019 and the students decided to boycott their semester examinations which were to take place at the start of the New Year 2020.

The CAA-NRC protests

While the JNU was fighting its own fight for affordable education, protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) gripped the capital. Peacefully protesting students at the Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMIU) were brutally attacked by the Delhi Police and JNU came out in support of Jamia, calling for an overnight stir.

What happened on January 5, 2020 and what it was actually made out to be

After the JNU violence on January 5, Union Home Minister had in a speech asked Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi whom he was trying to save, referring to the students as members of the ‘tukde tukde’ gang that must be punished.

Coined by the right-wing and its affiliates after the JNU campus unrest in 2016 which saw the arrest of then JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar after he chanted for ‘azaadi’, the ‘tukde tukde’ gang is now referred to anyone the right-wingers feel is anti-India and out to divide the country.

The JNU students knew they couldn’t let down their guard or give up their fight in anyway because their fee hike was not yet recalled. In light of this, they had decided to boycott the semester examination registrations which were to be held starting January 1 and were to end on January 5.

On January 4, allegedly to break the strike and instill fear among the students, the security staff was roped in, reported the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM). Later in the day, allegedly some ABVP activists were caught on camera attacking the protesting students, including the women and pelted stones at them.

To protest against this violence, the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) had called for a meeting on campus on January 5, 2020. This was when a group of around 50 masked goons entered the campus and started targeting JNUSU official bearers and students. A few distress calls were made for help, but no student was allowed on campus post the incident. The Delhi Police, after written permission, got into the campus to take stock of the situation.

Many reports carried information that the Left had orchestrated the attack against the ABVP students who had gone for exam registrations on January 4 and that the security guards employed with ‘Cyclops’, the company that managed the security arrangements at JNU and the guards of which were conspicuously missing during the attack on January 5; were also beaten up.

However, evidence has come to light, clearly connecting the ABVP to the violence at JNU.

A WhatsApp group with the name ‘Unity against Left’ was formed. Newslaundry, got into the group and unraveled some truths that showed a clear conspiracy by the ABVP.

https://twitter.com/someshjha7/status/1213847511682519040

Screenshots of a Whatsapp group named ‘Unity against left’ doing the rounds showing how the violence inside the JNU campus was orchestrated. This is the latest one: pic.twitter.com/Q182mBapX0

— Somesh Jha (@someshjha7) January 5, 2020

Also, in on it were the people of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

https://twitter.com/someshjha7/status/1213885500773163008

And btw, this is a screenshot from another WA group. Look at the names here. Maybe they are your friends? pic.twitter.com/3DmoNcitVR

— Somesh Jha (@someshjha7) January 5, 2020

Chats that clearly called for violence.

https://twitter.com/SunilAmbhore20/status/1213900016227631105

So a WhatsApp group of RSS- Bajrang Dal- ABVP has been created to orchestrate violence. Some chats are as following:
1- Main gate par Kya karna hai.
2- Police nahi aayegi.
3- VC apna hai

This is an organised violence. pic.twitter.com/BrFNAnC5g6

— Sunil Ambhore (@SunilAmbhore20) January 5, 2020

Newslaundry reported that 9 of the 18 admins of the WA group were from the ABVP. Manish Jangid, one of the admins and the ABVP secretary had apparently conveyed to the BJP, as Amit Malviya tweeted, that the left backed student unions were targeting members of the ABVP so that academic sessions could be disrupted.

The below is a list of the people who were group admins. They were identified using True Caller, their WA Display Pics and a Facebook profile search.

1. Venkat Choubey ABVP:  Joint Secretary Candidate Candidate JNUSU 2018-19

2. Velentina Bramha: ABVP Activisit from Delhi

3. Vijay Kumar: ABVP JNU Vibhag Sanyojak

4.  Devendr Kumar: ABVP Member

5. Sumanta Sahu: ABVP Joint Secretary Candidate JNUSU 2019

6. Manish Jangid: ABVP Presidential Candidate JNUSU 2019

7. Ambuj Mishra: ABVP Media and Social Media Convener

8. Yogendra Bharadwaj: ABVP  JNUSUJoint Secretary Candidate 2017-18

9. Anima Sonkar: ABVP Delhi Joint Secretary

Newslaundry did not find any incriminatory utterances, they did find some statements that pointed out to a crafting a plan. A conversation about the injury of Aishe Ghosh, could point out that the ABVP did not feel any regret for what had happened.

ocial media is flooded with screenshots of this group where people have made the following incendiary statements that point towards some sort of “planning”:

#1. “Nahi. VC ne entry mana kiya hai. Apna VC hai.” (No. VC has disallowed them [Delhi Police] from entering. VC is ours.)

#2. “Agar jana he to Sabarmati hostel jao.. waha sab karykarta jama hai.” (If you want to go, go to Sabarmati hostel… there all our karyakartas have gathered.)

#3. “आइशी का सर फटा है। अभी सीरियस है वो.. बचेगी नही शायद.” (Aishi has a serious head injury. She’s serious… might not survive.) 

To this one person responded with #4: “बढ़िया हुआ, अभी तो चुन–चुन कद इन देश द्रोहियो को मारना है.” (Good, now we have to identify and kill all these traitors.)

The search done by Anand Mangale, formerly associated with Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a firm started by Prashant Kishore show that though none of these statements make anyone guilty, they do make the members of ABVP strong suspects.

JNU has always been synonymous with courage. It has had student leaders bear the brunt of the state and the police, it has had student leaders being detained and it has had students and teachers being beaten up and become victims of state-sponsored terror time and again.

Because JNU has a strong voice, whether in Kanhaiya Kumar or Aishe Ghosh, repeated efforts have made to quell it. JNU has always stood for the ones who never got a say. In this fight against the fee hike, it was wanting that the poor and the marginalized not be left out of the fold of a good education that they deserved.

No student of JNU has ever feared being political, but the University’s sincere efforts to save the system and its students from the hands of a few rich and privileged have been diverted by a rigid ruling government that has time and again looked to quash it by terming it ‘anti-national’ or ‘urban naxals’ or members of the ‘tukde tukde’ gang.

JNU has always fought against oppression and for the rights of others. The unveiling of the truth behind the attack and the horror unleashed on students and teachers, followed by an outpouring of solidarity from the nation, just go to show that JNU has and will always stand for causes that matter and will never lose courage in the face of difficulty.

Related:

Terror has been repeatedly unleashed on JNU, lest we forget the disappearance of young Najeeb, and several times before
Amit Shah targets ‘tukde tukde’ gang Instead of condemning JNU violence, hate speech?
What Exactly Happened in JNU ?

The post JNU‘s fee hike fight an eyesore for the admin and Govt.? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Do the young particularly frighten this regime? Yes if we recall the death of Rohith Vemula (Jan 17, 2016) the brute attack on Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid (February-March 2016,again in 2018), the bloody attack and disappearance of young Najeeb (went missing on October 15, 2016) and the countless criminal cases filed against young students from the Ambedkar-Periyar Circle, Chennai IIT, FTII, Pune (Maharashtra) and across several universities in the country! Students and faculty of the Hyderabad Central University were also brutally attacked when they were protesting the return of Appa Rao Podile as Vice Chancellor after the “institutional murder” of Rohith Vemula. Amidst this violent gore, the Delhi police especially , taking orders from the powerful who are their political masters have, over the past six and a half years used brute force against the students of JNU.

Najeeb’s disappearance was, possibly, the most sinister and deadly. In October 2019, three years after the last time her son was seen alive, his mother, Fatima Nafis said: “I am fortunate that all of you, my children, have done your duty to stand with me and say that I am not alone. This is a slap in the face of the Sanghis. The only thing the government is scared of is the youths who will be the leaders of tomorrow. Those who call themselves nationalists are selling airports and the railways and destroying institutions. The only people stopping them are the youth.”

Najeeb had been pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from New Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He was a sharp young man with what his mother hoped was a bright future. But one evening –in October  2016 –after a minor altercation with the aggressive members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the very next day he went missing. Najeeb’s friends have suspected foul play and Fatima started demanding an explanation about what happened to her son. But nobody seemed to have any answers. The police couldn’t explain what happened. It was almost as if he vanished into thin air!

Umar Khalid

Umar Khalid, a Ph D scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)—once hallowed with its academic reputation but now hollowed out by its saffron vice chancellor–was attacked by a gun wielding assailant inside the premises of the constitution club, situated within a high security zone barely 500 meters away from the parliament house on August 13, 2018 just two days before the Independence Day.  After this shameful incident, a troll from the Hindutva camp celebrated the attack, “Really condemn the unsuccessful attempt of shooting!! Try lynching him next time… This kind of anti-national elements must be eliminated as soon as possible…”; Are these not abetments to murder? Umar had also suffered intimidation and threats while in jail in 2016.

Kanhaiya Kumar

Kanhaiya Kumar, today a celebrity youth icon, had been beaten brutally by men in black coats claiming to be lawyers on February 17, 2016 and had detailed his ordeal before the Court Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court of India. (Senior advocate Mihir Desai had, in an interview to Sabrangindia declared, Lawyers or Goondas? Choose, You cannot be Both: senior counsel Mihir Desai.  In this interview, Desai had said, “Several basic principles of ethics of the legal profession have been seriously violated by the lawyers that we saw on television taking law into their own hands and assaulting women and men, including Kanhaiya Kumar on February 15 and 16 at the Patiala House Court, Delhi.”

Kanhaiya had also written a letter from jail to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), My Life is Under Threat: Kanhaiya Kumar to NHRC on February 27, 2016 in this connection. Then, as president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) Kanhaiya had in the four-page letter made serious charges against the police that is required, under law, to follow due process. He has stated that the Delhi Police arrested him on February 12, 2016 from his hostel at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) without any warrant or a notice. In the letter, Kanhaiya also detailed how he had been under extreme mental pressure under detention even though he was not physically manhandled by the police.

The Case of Najeeb’s Disappearance

After young Najeeb  went missing on October 15, 2016, there were many cues left to be explored, from the minutest of forensic details (it is claimed Najeeb’s slippers were found on the staircase along with his phone and wallet in the room), to the fact that he was thrashed by students from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his room the other night, or the perplexing events which took place after his last conversation with his mother, Fatima Nafees, who was on her way to meet him. The case has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which, predictably filed a closure report. Fatima Nafis is contesting this closure in court.

On April 23, 2019 a Delhi court ruled that Fatima Nafis is not only entitled to file a protest petition against the closure report in the investigation into her son Najeeb’s disappearance, but also to copies of the report, all related documents as well as statements of witnesses. The court has directed the CBI to submit all this to the complainant. The court has allowed the CBI to provide soft copies of the documents on a pen drive or CD. The case is still pending in court as a mother fights an unyielding system to get justice.

Ammi, a documentary film traces the acute loss, search and longing by Fatima Nafis.  “Our words haven’t reached those who should have heard our voices.” The essence of this line echoes throughout the film, prompting the viewer to recognise the gaps overlooked by the JNU administration as well as the law while investigating the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed.

November 2019

Before last Sunday’s brute attack (January 5, 2020) in November 2019, thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, carrying placards and chanting slogans had marched towards Parliament on the first day of the Winter Session on Monday, demanding a total rollback of the hostel fee hike and –while peacefully protesting –suffered brute blows from the lathis of the Delhi police. According to reports, JNU students were lathi charged and several others detained as they started their march towards the Parliament. Several “officers” in plainclothes, according to witnesses, brutally assaulted students and manhandled women during the protest.

“Is lathi charge and breaking heads of JNU Students, and leaving them bloodied the humanity of the Delhi Police? When they were thrashed by lawyers, they remembered the dignity of the uniform? Don’t such incidents stain the uniform?” Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh had then tweeted. Then on December 15, 2019 a similarly brutal and targeted assault was unleashed on Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Indian students across IITs. IIMS, Central private and public universities demonstrated unitedly in outrage. The protests against the un-Constitutional Citizens Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 and proposed NPR-NRC just got stronger.

Violence is the means and the way of a regime not just inherently anti-democratic but worse; proto-fascist. Those in power signal–through the sinister use of hate and targeted speech– who the victims of the next assault for the khakhi shirts should be. The dog whistle could mark the the “tukde-tukde gang today,” or the “urban Naxals” tomorrow. These khakhi shirts are both the men and women in uniform or those within affiliate outfits, readied 24X7 to take the bait. That is what they have been groomed in the shakha for. It is a time tested ruse of those that use the constructed power of hate and othering to brutally control.

Today, they are both rattled and challenged today by not just the relentless and courageous questioning but the creative take-over of the streets by love and music. It is a threat that is real and immediate because if the protests last, they may well wash away the corrosive stench of hate-lust. For some time to come.

Related:

Radhika Vemula: I will not rest until Rohith gets Justice
Have you seen my son: Rupa Behn Mody
Youth frighten Modi Regime says Fatima Nafis, JNU student Najeeb’s mother
Delhi Court orders CBI to share key documents in Najeeb case with Fatima Nafis

The post Terror has been repeatedly unleashed on JNU, lest we forget the disappearance of young Najeeb, and several times before appeared first on SabrangIndia.