ABVP holds protest march in DU against ‘anti-national activities’

  New Delhi, March 2 (IANS): Under fire from various quarters after the February 22 Ramjas College violence, the ABVP on Thursday held a protest march in Delhi University here against what it dubbed “anti-national activities”. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, said the protest march near the DU North Campus’ Art Faculty was organised to save the university from “anti-national activities”. Protesters raised slogans like “Vidyarthi Parishad lade chalo (keep fighting, ABVP), “Hindustan mein rehna hoga, Vande Mataram kehna hoga” (To live in this country, you have to say Vande Mataram), “Na Marxwad, na Naxalwad, sabse upar rashtrawad” (nationalism above Marxism and Naxalism). The students’ party demanded strict action against elements who it said supported “anarchism and anti-India propaganda”. “Anti-national slogans were raised on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus by some communist cadres last year. The central and Delhi governments and the Delhi police should conduct an investigation against these people,” ABVP Media Convener Saket Bahuguna said during the protest. “You are free to have conferences and rallies but freedom of expression doesn’t mean that you will divide the country. Shouting about Kashmir’s or Bastar’s freedom is an anti-national action,” he said. He added: “Anybody raising such slogans in DU, JNU or anywhere in the country will have to face the ABVP. If you raise anti-national slogans, we will stand against you.” Delhi University Students Union President Amit Tanwar, Vice-President Priyanka Chawri and General Secretary Ankit Sanghwan of the ABVP echoed what Bahuguna said. At the protest venue, huge hoardings declaring the All India Students’ Association (AISA) to be a “rapist party” were also displayed. This came as a response to the protest organised by AISA against the ABVP, urging for peace and freedom of expression after ABVP forced the suspension of an event at Ramjas College to be addressed by JNU student Umar Khalid on February 21. Khalid was jailed last year for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans. “Rapist AISA, go back!”, “Desh 1947 se azaad hai, par vaampanthiyon ki soch wahi (the country has been independent since 1947, but the leftists have the same thinking”, the hoardings put up by ABVP in North Campus read. According to Bahuguna, his party was justified in calling the AISA so “because AISA leader Anmol Ratan was last year jailed for raping a JNU student”. “One ABVP worker indulges in violence and you declare our whole party to be a group of hooligans. Why can’t we call AISA a party of rapists?” he questioned. Many posters and hoardings referred to recent clashes between Communist Party of India-Marxist and Bharatiya Janata Party-RSS workers in Kerala. “Weapons of communists and their victims. Three students Anu, Sujit and Kim killed by communist and SFI (Students Federation of India),” one of them read. “Students on the campus are finding these posters scary but they depict the reality. Leftists in Kerala are responsible for killing and mutilating bodies (of BJP-RSS workers). Imagine the horror that these martyrs’ families must have felt, after receiving their dead bodies,” Bahuguna said. Ramjas clash: Delhi Police starts recording statements The Delhi Police has received as many as 25 complaints regarding the February 22 violence at the Ramjas College here and has begun recording statements of the complainants, an officer said on Thursday. Probing the clashes between the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Left-backed All India Students’ Association (AISA), the police on the day recorded statements of two students, including a girl, of St. Stephen’s College. “So far we have received 25 complaints alleging assault, molestation etc. We have recorded statements of two students and have called others for the same,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madhur Verma. According to the police, the complaints are from activists of the ABVP, AISA and other students. Testifying before the police, the two alleged they were beaten up by ABVP activists outside Ramjas canteen. The girl claimed she was attacked with stones. With various student groups taking out protest marches in the aftermath of the clashes, the police have also been in constant touch with authorities of Delhi University colleges to ensure peace. The clashes, which subsequently snowballed into a major political row, left over a dozen people, including teachers and journalists, injured. The police registered cases against unknown persons for rioting and assaulting. The investigation was subsequently handed over to the Crime Branch. On February 22, ABVP activists allegedly clashed with AISA members at Ramjas College over an invitation to JNU student Umar Khalid, who was charged with sedition in 2016 for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans during an event in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. Gurmehar issue rocks Haryana Chandigarh, March 2 (PTI): Delhi university student Gurmehar Kaur issue rocked the Haryana Assembly on Thursday, with opposition INLD seeking state minister Anil Vij’s apology for his tweet that dubbed her anti-ABVP campaign supporters as pro-Pakistan, liable to be thrown out of the country. The issue was raised during Zero Hour by INLD’s leader by former minister Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, who asked Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to rein-in his minister having the habit of shooting off his mouth. Sandhu also said Vij should apologise for what he had said about Gurmehar Kaur. With Vij being outside the House at the time the matter was raised, he walked in and drew vociferous support from his colleagues at treasurey benches. Congress too supported INLD members on the issue with the MLAs from the opposition and the treasury benches having sharp exchanges, some of which had to be expunged. Some BJP members also raised ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ slogans. Meanwhile, outside the House, Vij defended on Thursday what he had said on Wednesday, asserting “In my tweet yesterday, no where have I said anything personal against Gurmehar Kaur.” “I only said she should not do politics over martyrdom of her father,” Vij told reporters later, adding “Pakistan has been fighting direct and proxy war against India for the last 70 years and an attempt has been made to give a clean chit to that country.” Gurmehar Kaur had said Pakistan did not kill her father, the war did. Somewhere she has shown a soft corner towards Pakistan.” Vij went to the extent of terming INLD act of raising the Gurmehar’s issue inside the House as “anti-national.” “INLD MLA tried to support Guermehar, which is an anti-national thing to do,” he said. On INLD senior leader Abhay Chautala saying that young people can falter, Vij said “to say that she is a young woman, the matter cannot end there. If young people like her become a tool in the hands of the anti-national forces, they too cannot be deemed to have committed wrong.”