The Jawaharlal Nehru University campus and the Ministry of Human Resource Development were witness to agitations on Wednesday against the university’s decision to suspend students who protested at the Academic Council meeting on December 26.
Protesters detained
Activists of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), who led a protest outside the MHRD on Wednesday afternoon, were later detained.
The students are upset with the university’s decision to give more importance to the interview in the JNU entrance test. Demanding implementation of the OBC/SC/ST reservation at the faculty level and for direct PhDs, they have also called for punishment for the ABVP students who were allegedly involved in a scuffle with Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing in October.
The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), whose president Bhupali Vitthal Magare and two other members — Rahul Sonpimple and Praveen Thallapelli — have been suspended, said in a statement that despite enough evidence, the JNU administration had not taken any action against the ABVP students, who communally intimidated and attacked Najeeb.
The BAPSA has alleged that the administration had suspended students from the marginalised sections without any inquiry into the events.
The eight students who have been suspended and debarred from hostels.
The JNU administration, meanwhile, has said that strong action will be taken against those who offer accommodation to the suspended students.
The BAPSA also said that almost all the suspended students are from marginalised sections like SC/ST/OBC and religious minorities. On December 26, the BAPSA, United OBC Forum and others had organised a protest as none of their demands had been discussed in the first Academic Council meeting held on December 23.
V-C has failed: JNUSU
The BAPSA alleged that neither did the AISA-SFI led JNUSU fight strongly enough for the demands during the first meeting, nor did it do much during the second meeting.
The JNUSU, meanwhile, condemned the suspension order. Saying it would resist the order, the JNUSU said that “if anyone needs to be removed from JNU for disrupting processes of functioning of the university, it is the V-C himself. He has failed to run JNU and is only interested in destroying everything that the university community has achieved through years of struggle.”
