JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, who received 16 stitches on her forehead and was left with a broken hand after she was attacked by a mob during Sunday’s violence on campus, said the attack on her was an attack on the 8,000 students of the university.
Ms. Ghosh said that a man sitting in a car near Sabarmati Hostel singled her out after which 30 masked men attacked her with an iron rod and hammers.
She alleged that the JNU security staff present at the spot did not intervene and were in collusion with the vandals “who were out to destroy JNU’s democratic culture”. Ms. Ghosh said Sunday’s violence was not an isolated incident, but comes on the heels of incidents at Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and several other universities where students were attacked for “raising their voice against the policies of the Centre”.
“For the past four-five days, some RSS-affiliated professors have been promoting violence to break our movement against the hostel fee hike. Are we wrong to ask for safety from JNU and the police?” Ms. Ghosh said.
Also read:FIR against JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, 19 others for attacking security guards
She added that when the union realised that several outsiders had entered the campus, she messaged the SHO of Vasant Kunj police station. “The SHO replied that the outsiders had been removed from the campus. But after half an hour or so, the mob attacked me,” she said.
‘The mute spectators’
“The campus security stood aside, the police were mute spectators, and ambulances were attacked,” the JNUSU stated, adding: “Sunday’s violence was a systematic and planned attack coordinated by the ABVP, JNU administration, JNU Teachers’ Federation — the breakaway group of the JNU Teachers’ Association — who collaborated with outside forces to unleash violence.”
The union said despite existing police presence, the V-C delayed his response and allowed a free reign to outsiders to attack and riot.
Thousands of students took out a march from Sabarmati T-Point to the North Gate and back along with their teachers on Monday. The students said attempts have been made to break the democratic nature of the campus but they will not bow down and would fight back not with violence but with words and ideas.
Outside the university gates, a large gathering of protesters from the ABVP were seen raising slogans. They were, however, not allowed to enter the campus.
The JNUSU said they have called for a strike on January 8 and requested students from across the country to participate in it.
