A protest march by the All India Student Union (AISA) members at Delhi University campus turned out to be a picnic spot for many. Majority of the protesters were outsiders, mainly from JNU, Jamia Milia Islamia and Jamia Hamdard.
The protesters appeared to be having fun as they were seen dancing, smoking and singing. Though a huge footfall was witnessed but the main crux was missing as the participants, instead of showing their concern, were involved in activities reflecting cultural activities.
Meanwhile the RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has called for a protest on March 2 against the entry of outsiders on campus and their alleged attempts to “pollute” the atmosphere.
ABVP’s president of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), Amit Tanwar said, “The entire protesters are outsiders and they have nothing to do with the university’s interest. It is ridiculous that outsiders are now organising a protest and advocating for students of other campus.” “These people are habitual protesters and now this campus is becoming victim of their politics. Unnecessary politics of AISA is damaging the educational fabric of this university,” he added.
Raising slogans of ‘Humko chahiye aazadi’ (we want freedom) and calling it a ‘March for getting rid of the Union Government’s ideology’, the AISA members, students and teachers from DU and JNU as well as left and AAP-affiliated student groups gathered at the Faculty of Arts on North campus over last week’s violence at Ramjas College.
Students of different colleges and even outsiders like JNU’s popular faces such as Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid joined. On Monday, the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), led by the ABVP, had held a Tiranga March and sought action against those who had allegedly raised ‘anti-national’ slogans during the Ramjas protests last week.
However, some students alleged that they are the worst affected from these political developments. “Our studies are getting affected and we are also scared as this campus has turned out in a political battle field,” said Arun Kumar, a second year student of Bhim Rao Ambedkar college.
Saket Bahuguna, ABVP’s National Media Convener said during a Press conference “There is lot of hue and cry about ABVP’s involvement in the violence. We would like to put on record that the violence was provoked by outsiders and the ‘anti-nationals’ have put the blame on us.”
“The outsiders are not only vitiating the academic and peaceful atmosphere of the university but are also provoking violence. We had not gone to attack anybody but only went to calm the situation that day and to ensure that there is no clash of ideologies in our classroom,” he added.
“This is for the first time that such widespread violence has been witnessed at Delhi University and it is not because of ABVP. Our organisation has been part of the students union for years, why such violence took place now is because of the involvement of outsiders,” Bahuguna said.
“We have called for a massive protest on March 2 to agitate against the presence of outsiders on DU campus and their attempts to vitiate the atmosphere,” he added.
The development was started after Ramjas College had last week witnessed large-scale violence between members of the left-affiliated AISA and the ABVP. The genesis of the clash between the two students groups was an invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on ‘Culture of Protests’ which was later withdrawn by the college authorities following opposition by the ABVP.