: Under fire over his comments on 1984 anti-Sikh riots, JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar went into damage control mode on Wednesday saying he will fight against every massacre.
While addressing a gathering at a protest march organised by JNU students demanding justice for Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula, Mr. Kumar said: “We will fight against massacres may it be Bathani Tola massacre, or 1984 riots or the 2002 riots. We will together fight for their closures and we will make sure that the closure is in favour of justice and in favour of society”.
“Government wants to tire us in our struggles. But, they should keep in mind that neither is their exploitation new, nor is our struggle new. You have not tired exploiting us and we will also not tire in our struggle,” he added.
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Mr. Kumar attracted criticism over his remarks earlier this week that the 1984 anti-Sikh riot was a “mob-led massacre” while 2002 Gujarat riots were a “state sponsored violence”.
His comments did not go down well even with those who have been his zealous supporters ever since he was arrested in a sedition case over an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.
The students demanding justice for the Dalit scholar marched towards Rashtrapati Bhawan to request President Pranab Mukherjeeto take action against the vice-chancellor of the Hyderabad University.
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The protest march, organised by Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice-Delhi Chapter, began from Mandi House, but was halted by police near Jantar Mantar where the students held a meeting to express solidarity with the Hyderabad Central University students.
The demonstrators appealed to President requesting him to take action against the police clampdown in HCU.
Had said the 1984 riots were a ‘mob-led massacre’ and the 2002 riots were State-sponsored