Hundreds of students from various student organisations, NGOs and prominent personalities staged a sit-in protest at the historic Gateway of India in south Mumbai against the hooliganism witnessed on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Sunday night.
The students from various colleges, carrying the national tricolours, banners and posters, staged a dharna, shouted slogans against the violence at the JNU and expressed their solidarity with the affected students and professors in the national capital. Protests were also staged at the IIT Bombay Powai campus.
The protests were continuing in Mumbai till very late in the evening.
Bollywood film makers Anurag Kashyap, Anubhav Sinha, Zoya Akthar, actors Rahul Bose, Gauhar Khan and comedian Kunal Kamra staged a demonstration at Carter Road in Bandra’s Carter Road in north-west Mumbai on Monday night, to condemn the violence at JNU and express solidarity with the students.
State Housing Minister and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad, who joined the protest at the Gateway of India in the morning, hit out at the NJP government at the Centre for its attempts to “destroy” democracy in the country.
Talking to media persons, Awhad said: “The JNU violence is (Amit) Shah-sponsored terrorism. The country condemns this barbaric act. Its nice to see that #Modi #Shah are scared of only one thing, that’s theintellect in JNU”.
On Sunday night, students staged a “torch protest” in front of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune to express their solidarity with the affected JNU students.
Students from various colleges in Pune and the Pune University had joined the FTII students in the protest which went on till 1 am on Monday.
The FTII students are planning a “silent march” from their institute campus to the Pune University at 5.30 pm on Tuesday in protest against the violence at the JNU and demand action against those behind the incident. “ We expect the students from various colleges and Pune Unviersity and also people from various walks of life to join the silent march,” a student leader said.
Meanwhile, students owing allegiance to Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest near Ruia College at Matunga in north-central Mumbai against the JNU attack and alleged that the Left backed students were behind the incident. They raised slogans against the left parties and JNUSU.
ABVP’s Mumbai unit general secretary Aniket Ovhal, who led the protest, alleged the JNUSU was behind the violence at the JNU. “Twenty three of our members are injured, while 11are missing. We would like to know from JNUSU as to where are our missing members, Ovhal said.