New Delhi: Not everyone is mourning the loss of 76 CRPF jawans who were killed in Tuesday's massacre in Dantewada. Clashes broke out at Jawaharlal Nehru University here on Friday night, after two radical student organisations DSU and AISA held a public meeting which was seen as an attempt to support the Naxalites and celebrate the massacre.
The meeting was organised by the Democratic Students Union (DSU) and the All India Students Association (AISA) on campus. Opposition groups like the NSUI, ABVP and Youth for Equality allege they even shouted anti-India, pro-Maoist slogans at the meeting. But the organisers say they were only opposing the government's Operation Greenhunt. Authorities at the university say no permission had been taken to hold the meeting.
The National Students Union of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Pari-shad (ABVP) and Youth for Equality (YFE) came together to allege that a campus function by the JNU Forum Against War on People was used by Maoist supporters to celebrate the Dantewada killings. But the organisers said the meeting was only meant to oppose Operation Greenhunt launched by the government.
The NSUI national general secretary, Shaikh Shahnawaz, recalled: "Members of Democratic Students Union (DSU) and All India Students Association (AISA) organised a meeting to celebrate the killing of 76 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh. They were even shouting slogans like 'India murdabad, Maovad zindabad'. How can this be allowed inside a Central university?"
To oppose the holding of the function, NSUI and ABVP activists took out a march to the venue where a clash broke out among the students. "How can an administration let anti-India activities take place? Such organisations which celebrate the death of security personnel should be banned, just like SIMI was," said a PhD scholar from Tapti Hostel, Bharat Kumar.
The university administration said no permission had been taken to organise the meeting. Condemning the incident, vice-chancellor B B Bhattacharya said: "By organising such a meeting at this point of time when the nation has lost 76 precious lives is very insensitive on their part. Moreover, they have not taken any permission, which is a typical JNU attitude of defying rules just for the sake of it. Now that they managed to get the desired provocation, the campus will see a series of ritualistic protests to seek media attention, which is unfortunate. A few students and our security received minor bruises."
Samar Pandey, a member of the JNU Forum Against War On People, said that permission had been taken for the meeting. "NSUI and ABVP students tried to disrupt the meeting against 'Operation Greenhunt' and misbehaved. We took permission and pasted our pamphlets," he said.
Meanwhile, the assistant dean of students, Sachidanand Sinha, said: "We will not allow peace on campus to be disrupted. We will take suitable action on Monday."
"This programme was pre-planned. There was no attention. It was just cultural-dance, drama," said an organiser. "While the programme was on, ABVP people came and shouted slogans. Then NSUI students joined it. Human chain was formed. One woman was punched very badly."
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