It was a surcharged Tuesday in and around the North Campus of Delhi University as it reverberated with chants of anti-ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) slogans.
Members of All India Students Association (AISA) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia and other universities marched from Khalsa College to Faculty of Arts with placards and banners, while a section of students carrying tri-colour led the march just a day after Tiranga March by ABVP activists.
Wary of the possible recurrence of violence that had taken place on February 22, the Delhi Police deployed a large contingent of armed police personnel.
As students marched in DU, Gurmehar Kaur withdrew from her social media campaign against the ABVP and left for her hometown Jalandhar to be with her mother.
“I’m withdrawing from the campaign. Congratulations everyone. I request to be left alone. I said what I had to say... One thing is for sure, next time we will think twice before resorting to violence or threats and that’s all this was about,” she tweeted, adding, “The campaign is about students and not about me. Please go to the march in huge numbers. Best of luck... To anyone questioning my courage and bravery.. I’ve shown more than enough.”
In the meanwhile, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against unknown persons in connection with the alleged rape threat to Gurmehar.
The twitter battle that was stocked by former Indian cricket Virender Sehwag’s tweet continued on Tuesday. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said his remark on who was “polluting” the mind of an Army martyr’s daughter was aimed at “the leftists” and noted that “Gurmehar is free to express her views”.
Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar took a dig at Sehwag and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who trolled Kaur. “If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr it’s understandable but what’s wrong with some educated folks,” Akhtar tweeted.
Gurmehar had started the campaign “I am not afraid of ABVP”, following the violence at Ramjas college. It went viral and received a massive support from students of various universities, but also drew brickbats from many quarters.
“I stand by my comments. Anybody who tweets on social media platform should be careful. But anyone with a contrary view should be allowed to speak. Gurmehar is a young girl and she should be allowed to speak her mind,” he told reporters.
Earlier, Rijiju had taken to Twitter to criticise Kaur. “Who’s polluting this young girl’s mindIJ Strong armed forces prevent a war. India never attacked anyone but a weak India was always invaded,” the Minister of State for Home had said.
Responding to Rijiju’s comment, Akhtar tweeted, “Mr minister, you have condemned the left by falsely accusing them for celebrating soldiers killing n not a word about AVBP. Grossly biased.”
“I don’t (know) about her but Mr Minister I know who is polluting your mind,” the 71-year-old lyricist added.
Senior police officers who had been on duty during both Monday and Tuesday told The Pioneer, “Tuesday’s protest march had an unexpected turnout as against the information shared to us by the other unit of the Delhi Police.”
To prevent any untoward incident, the Delhi Police formed a human chain around the protestors who were part of the protest with posters attacking the ABVP. The march concluded at the Arts Faculty where student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, Kanwalpreet Kaur and leader of the Swaraj Abhiyan Yogender Yadav too addressed more than 1500 students.
At the Arts Faculty, Kanhaiya Kumar, a student of the JNU who was jailed on sedition charges in the February 9 incident was seen cheering the protesters.
Besides Kanhaiya, AISA vice-president Kanwalpreet Kaur addressed the protesters and said, “The fight is against the deep rooted values which deter the growth of the students, which curtail the freedom of women. The fight is not merely between the two political ideologies- one that belongs to ABVP, the other that belongs to the left oriented student groups. The real fight is to support student’s voice of dissent.”