ABVP Goons Unleashes Terror in JNU: Collective
On the recent Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) clash, the Collective Delhi State Committee responded that ABVP “goons” attacked students when they felt they were loosing the electoral battle. “This comes in an escalating series of violence by ABVP upon students fighting for JNUSU election,” the Collective said in a press statement.
A clash erupted between between ABVP and Left-affiliated groups late last night and it left several students injured. The incident reportedly ignited over the selection of election committee members at the School of Languages for the upcoming student organisation elections.
“ABVP goons attacked students in the School of Languages after the School GBM (General Body Meeting) was successfully conducted and ABVP felt that it was loosing the electoral battle. Several videos that are widely circulated clearly show that important ABVP office bearers are attacking students with sticks and steel objects,” the press release said.
In the release, the Collective stated that the previous day”s attack resulted in severe injury of their two activists, Sourya Majumder and Priyam, and were admitted to AIIMS emergency ward due to the injuries. Besides, student activists including Anwesha and Danish (last JNUSU Joint Secretary) were held captive forcefully and beaten up by the ABVP, the Delhi Collective alleges.
“ABVP School of Languages Secretary Kanhaiya Kumar can be spotted using lathis against students. Praful and Vikram (both students of Centre for Korean Studies and ABVP members) can be seen using different objects against the students. Ravikant Dubey, who is not a JNU student is also visible in the videos from yesterday as well as different attacks of past 2 weeks,” the Collective said. Tracing video footage, the Collective shared the photographs of these alleged attackers on their Facebook handle.
Continuing further, they stated that since February 9, ABVP has been indulging in violence tactics to halt the JNUSU election process from taking place. The Collective accused that the ABVP, administration and police are working in cohorts against students whenever they raise their legitimate concerns. There have been “concerted attacks by the ruling regime on various fronts” to destroy JNU model favouring students from marginalised communities, it adds.
“Since 2020, over 900 crore rupees have been loaned by HEFA (Higher Education Financing Agency), which will be recovered through fee hikes, shifting the burden onto students. Moreover, since 2014, JNU administration has appointed several faculty members who are close to or official members of the RSS, bypassing other candidates who had more credentials for the same posts,” the Collective argues. They adds that these stops have slowly destroyed accessible and quality education in University.
Concluding the press release, the Collective Delhi stressed that strict and immediate action is necessary against those responsible for last night”s violence in JNU.
