The attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University students and staff in New Delhi by an armed mob on Sunday evening triggered a wave of protests in Bengaluru. Hundreds of people gathered at Town Hall on Monday in solidarity with the JNU students, voicing their anger against the violence and the alleged inaction of the Delhi police.
While the call for the protest was given by five Left-leaning students’ organisations, it evolved into a spontaneous reaction with students from several colleges joining in. People started arriving at Town Hall in the morning, and by evening the crowd had swelled to more than 800.
A majority of the protesters were students, and they were joined by faculty members, activists, as well farmers leaders. Several students, who had stayed away from the previous rallies against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC, said they decided to come out on Monday as they were pained by the attack in an educational institution.
Protesters demanded the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor of JNU and the immediate arrest of those who attacked the students and faculty.
Students sang songs to keep the morale high. Veilou Paotei, a Masters student from United Theological College said. “If JNU students who are in such a prestigious university are not secure, then nobody is safe. We cannot afford to be in the classroom and talk about theories and be armchair scholars. It is time to take the protest to the streets.”
Kumar S., an engineering professor said, “Now children cannot express themselves, and there are assaults on the campuses. It is worrisome because if you do not go with the thinking of the government, then you are being hounded. The kind of attack on JNU proves that this is a sheer diversionary tactic when the country is facing pressing issues such as unemployment and economic slowdown.”
Several prominent activists stated that there was a need to look at all the instances cumulatively — the police brutality at Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University last year, and the Central government’s move to implement CAA, NRC and NRP.
Rajashekhar V.N., All Indian president, All India Democratic Students Organisation, who has taken part in thousands of protests, described the gathering as a spontaneous outburst of people against the ABVP who allegedly attacked students and faculty. “People don’t want to tolerate injustice and this is the tipping point. It will be the last nail on the coffin of ABVP and BJP.”
Kodihalli Chandrashekar, farmers’ leader who was present at the protest said, “Whether it is injustice against farmers or students, we need to fight it. Nobody should attack anyone and we extend our support to student organisations,” he said.
Meanwhile, students and research scholars of Indian Institute of Science staged a protest on their campus late on Monday evening against the attack. Research scholars from National Institute of Advanced Studies and National Center For Biological Sciences also took part in the nearly two-hour protest.
