Terming the Sunday’s attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University campus a “fascist surgical strike,” Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday called upon the Opposition parties to unite against the “fascist rule being perpetrated by the BJP-led Government.”
Even as academic campuses all over Bengal erupted in protest against the Sunday’s “barbaric attack” on students of JNU the Chief Minister said an “
emergency-like situation” was prevailing in India which had to be countered immediately to retrieve and save the Indian democracy.
“I started my political career as a student worker but have never seen a situation like this where the academic campus of the entire country is being attacked just to gag the protesting voices,” the Chief Minister said adding “if anyone raises his voice he will be termed as anti-national … this was not how politicians worked in the past.”
Lambasting the BJP Government for allowing the violence to be perpetrated by the members of its students’ arm Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in JNU campus Banerjee said “I was watching how one side they sent their ABVP goons inside the campus to brutally attack the students and on the other they kept the police administration inactive… similar things happened at Jamia Millia Islamia, Lucknow, Muradabad. They are doing whatever they like… this (JNU attack) is nothing but a fascist surgical strike absolutely.”
India had been shamed and its democracy tormented as never before, Banerjee said “It is shameful to speak about how democracy is being attacked by a planted game. If anyone speaks anything in protest they call them anti-national, a Pakistani… What is happening? Pakistan is not a democratic country. The difference between India and Pakistan is that we are secular country and they are fundamentalist country. So why always compare with Pakistan? Does it mean that you want to pull India to the level of that country?”
Banerjee’s angry remarks came at a time when parts of Bengal including educational campuses in Kolkata erupted in revolt against the JNU incident with thousands of students taking out rallies from Presidency College, Jadavpur University and other places.
A massive procession of the civil society members was taken out from North Kolkata past the BJP State party office to the Governor’s House.
In the evening the police had a tough time to keep JU students and the followers of the ABVP separated from each other. “An apparent BJP supporter was roughed up by the alleged JU students for calling the, Pakistanis even as they were taking out a procession condemning the Sunday’sincident.