KOLKATA: A rally organised by Jadavpur University (JU) students to protest against Sunday’s violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (
JNU) neared flashpoint after it came face to face with a BJP procession near Sulekha crossing on Monday evening.
Police had to resort to a mild lathi-charge to disperse students and BJP workers after both sides breached barricades and nearly came to blows. The JU students claimed that BJP workers hurled stones and bricks at them and claimed that the police action against them was uncalled for. DCP (South Suburban Division) Sudip Sarkar said, “While we were chasing some trouble makers, some students entered the mob. We could not differentiate the students from BJP workers who were burning tyres. We did not lathicharge students.”
BJP denied that its workers incited violence.While some JU students set BJP flags ablaze, the BJP workers set tyres on fire as passers-by scampered in fear. BJP leader and former MP Anupam Hazra said: “We
had permission to march till Jadavpur police station. We had intimated the police well in advance. How could they stop us?”
Tension prevailed in the area for nearly an hour till the BJP workers dispersed. The students, however, resorted to a roadblock near the 8B bus stand from around 8.30pm, vowing to stand by those attacked at JNU. The situation may have worsened had a rally by CPM cadres got close to the spot. The CPM workers were also protesting against Sunday’s attack at JNU.
The students’ rally that came face to face with the BJP workers was the fourth march of the day from JU campus. The first one was brought out by SFI, which leads the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU). The procession went around the campus before spilling out on Raja S C Mullick Road. Commuters and locals, though inconvenienced, didn’t seem to mind though and waited for nearly10 minutes till around 2.30 pm till the students re-entered the campus. Kolkata police commissioner Anuj Sharma said, “Police are making all efforts to coperate with students and law-abiding citizens to maintain peace. Senior officers are in the Jadavpur area to help people.”
Holding aloft banners and accusing the BJP of treading a fascist path, the students shouted slogans such as: ‘Tomar booke Nathuram, amar booke Kshudiram (You have Nathuram in your heart, while we think of Kshudiram)’ and ‘Tomar Mukhe Savarkar, Amar Mukhe Ambedkar (You
talk of Savarkar while we talk of Ambedkar)’. Apart from students from the arts faculty, there were some from the science streams. “We stand in solidarity with them. Every attempt by the fascist government to destroy the mass students’ movements will now be dealt with equal resistance by us,” said Debraj Debnath, general secretary of the SFI unit at JU.
The second rally of the day was called by all departments of JU and this saw a large turnout. Many carried tambourines and sang songs of protest while going around the campus and then up to the Jadavpur police station. Even members of the Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) expressed their solidarity with the students. “We plan to form a joint team along with teachers of other institutes and send a delegation to meet JNU students,” said physics teacher Partha Pratim Roy who is the general secretary of JUTA.
The third rally was by the teachers that started from Gandhi Bhavan ended at the 8B bus stand. Students from other institutions stopped by to express solidarity. “Attacks on the student community is not acceptable,” said Raunak Saha, a student of Asutosh College.
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