An attempt was made to disrupt a program of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in Nagpur on Thursday by hurling a shoe when he was addressing a gathering hardly one kilometer away from the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters here.
The JNUSU president, who is facing cases of sedition for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at the JNU campus, was in Nagpur on Thursday to participate in various programs on the occasion Dr.B.R.Ambedkar’s 125 birth anniversary celebration.
Some right wing organizations had already threatened to stall his program organized by the Progressive Students Youth Action committee.
Five Bajrang Dal men tried to stop a vehicle in which the JNUSU president was traveling from Nagpur airport to Deekshabhoomi (the place where Dr.Ambedkar embraced Buddhism with his followers).
The Bajrang Dal men also tried to hurl some stones at his vehicle, however, the police detained them.
When Kanhaiya began to address a packed hall at Dhanwate national college here at around 2 pm, 10 to 15 men greeted him with the slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. All the protesters, who belonged to the ABVP, were swiftly evicted out of the hall by the organizers.
When the JNUSU president was midway in his speech, a person sitting on the dais , hurled a shoe at him resulting in pandemonium in the hall.
The attacker was arrested by the police and was identified as Hariram Shende, a Dalit youth reportedly related to a frontal organization of the RSS
However, Kanhaiya continued his speech and reacting to incidents, he requested the attackers to give him the other shoe in his pair.
“I request the person who threw shoe at me to give me a complete pair. Some poor man can use it. I lost my slippers at Deekshabhoomi this morning and I know it’s heating outside so if someone wants to throw anymore shoes at me, please bring a pair so that I can use it outside,” he said.
“This incident has compelled me to speak on some topics I was silent on until now. I have never spoken on what happened in JNU incident. But with this repeated shoe throwing saga, I think I should speak on those topics now. Those, who are destroying constitution by saying ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and attack people, are defaming these slogans. If they had faith in ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, then they would also had faith in this country’s tradition of truth and non-violence. Why do they indulge in violence again and again? What revolution do they want to bring by guns and bombs? Which patriotism are they practicing by throwing shoes at people?” he added.
When asked about a Dalit youth hurling shoe at him, the JNUSU president said, " I dont know if he was Dalit. Its sad that Dr. Ambedkar has been read less and more misinformation has been spread in his name. At times, the social act of a person overshadows his identity. We have a Backward caste Prime Minister, have all the problems of the Backward classes been solved? There are Dalit leaders like Ramvilas Paswan who have joined the BJP led government. This is all an attempt to divert common public attention from public issues."
