The PDP-BJP government on Sunday stopped more than 40 people, including Bollywood actor Anupam Kher and film-maker Ashok Pandit, from reaching the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here to support protesting outstation students.
The non-local students have been boycotting classes since Monday after they clashed with Kashmiri students who allegedly celebrated West Indies’ victory over India in the World T20 semi-final match on March 31.
Two vehicles, including a bus, carrying supporters of the ‘Chalo NIT’ march organised by the BJP national secretary R.P. Singh, were stopped at Lakhanpur on Saturday night.
“Thirty to forty people were stopped in the night. On Sunday, two cars managed to enter Jammu city, but they were turned back,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, head of the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena who was involved in the Prashant Bhushan attack case, was also spotted and asked to return.
Mehbooba asks BJP to consider J&K sensibilities
Bollywood actor Anupam Kher and film-maker Pandit Kher and Pandit were stopped at the Srinagar airport on Sunday morning and disallowed from reaching the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here to support protesting outstation students.
The non-local students have been boycotting classes since Monday after they clashed with Kashmiri students who allegedly celebrated West Indies’ victory over India in the World T20 semi-final match on March 31.
“Landed in Srinagar. Will go to meet the students and give them a warm hug and a special gift… I have been told by J&K police that I cannot enter Srinagar city at all,” Mr. Kher wrote on Twitter.
Praising the NIT’s outstation students, he wrote: “Country loves and salutes your nationalism and courage. Keep it up.”
Sources said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had asked alliance partner BJP to “consider the sensibilities of the State and its complex realities on the ground” before pushing for a debate on “nationalism” and “patriotism” in volatile J&K.
Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh called the ‘NIT Chalo’ march participants rumour-mongers “hell bent on creating confusion.” He asked the people to desist from politicising students’ issues.
“I have stayed away from the NIT campus only to send the message that institutions should not be used as a political platform.”
The government, meanwhile, was now bracing to tackle separatists-sponsored shutdown on Tuesday against “attacks on Kashmiri students in colleges outside J&K.”
The NIT administration, in a notice, has agreed to meet a number of demands made by the outstation students. They included “relaxation in time schedule at hostels for girl students, waiving the permission criteria for celebrating festivals and attending to infrastructure issues, including warm water and clean mess at the hostels.”
