The Delhi Police submitted its internal report to the MHA on Thursday and requested it to disallow politicians from visiting the JNU campus and interacting with students fearing that the “discontent” not only among the left-leaning student groups but also among other students and teachers might spread to other universities across the country.
Following the February 9 anti-India event on the campus and arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on the sedition charge, many politicians, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP D Raja, Sita Ram Yechury, BJP MP Mahesh Giri, ousted AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prof Anand Kumar and INlD-backed Indian National Students’ Organisation leader Digvijay Chautala visited the campus, claimed the report.
The internal report said, “The situation may worsen as JNUites, the activists of the left supported students, JNUSU activists, varsity alumni and other members were trying to corner the current Central Government through aggressive and continuous protests. The row may spread to the entire nation as the protesters were comparing the incident with Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula’s suicide case.”
The three-page report, accessed by The Pioneer, stated that from 5 pm on February 13, about 50 to 60 activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had shouted slogans like “Rahul Gandhi go back.” The report said, “They shouted slogans against Rahul Gandhi around his vehicle and tried to block his way while he was to leave. However, he left the place swiftly in another vehicle through a different way without any intimation to the security people present in his vehicle.”
The report said, “When Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma was there to see off his leader Rahul Gandhi, there was a commotion and some people even jostled and argued among themselves. The ABVP protesters kept on shouting slogans while Anand Sharma was leaving the protest venue.”
The reported said, “At a meeting on the campus, students, teachers and activists had shouted anti-Government and pro-Kanhaiya slogans. The students were addressed by Rahul Gandhi, Maken, CPI(M) leaders Sita Ram Yechury and D Raja, Prof Anand Kyumar, Yogendra Yadav and women rights activist Kavita Krishnan.”
The report said all the speakers had condemned alleged raising of anti-national slogans and also attacked the Centre over freedom of expression and infringing upon constitutional rights.
“The speakers were also critical on how police were allowed to enter the JNU campus. Some of the speakers also cited Hyderabad central university’s scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide incident in their speeches,” the report said.
The first politician whose name figures in the report is of CPI leader D Raja who had addressed a gathering on the campus at 5.30 pm on February 12. During his address, D Raja had criticised the Centre for falsely implicating the students.
According to the report, Raja had said they do not want to learn patriotism from these so-called nationalists. After the address, a debate was organised by a TV channel in which Raja and BJP MP Mahesh Giri had participated. Keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter, the report said a sharp vigil with adequate security measures were needed to avoid any untoward incident on the campus.
The report stated that two posters were found affixed on the JNU campus.
The heading of one poster was “Condemn police terror in JNU — arrest of JNUSU president was not done in defense of India but to crush students’ movement in JNU by RSS and ABVP which had the names of Satarupa Chakrabarty, convener JNUSU.