Messy affair: students trade barbs over JNU violence

ABVP says clash erupted over Ram Navami celebrations, JNUSU says students were protesting against food shortage due to non-veg food ‘ban’

The North Gate at Jawaharlal Nehru University was abuzz with activity on Monday with the Left wing-led JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) and the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) trading barbs over the scuffle that broke out on Sunday evening at Kaveri Hostel over the issue of non-vegetarian food items being taken off the menu.

Students from both sides gave their accounts of what transpired and those who were injured in the melee showed their injuries and shared testimonies.

Rohit Kumar from the ABVP’s JNU unit said they did not have any issues with non-veg food being served in the hostels on the occasion of Ram Navami. He accused the Left parties on campus of using a diversionary tactic by raising the issue of non-vegetarian food when their actual motive was to disrupt the Ram Navami celebrations on the campus.

“In other hostels like Koyna, Periyar, etc., non-vegetarian food was served yesterday. We cannot dictate food choices but neither can the Left do that,” Mr. Kumar said.

The ABVP said that seven days ago, there was a general body meeting of Kaveri Hostel mess committee where it was unanimously decided by the student-run body that no non-veg food will be cooked on Sunday on the occasion of Ram Navami. “Muslim students were also in agreement with the decision. Three days ago, when the poster for the Ram Navami puja was shared, students from the Left threatened to disrupt the puja,” the ABVP said.

Countering the ABVP’s claim that it was a decision taken by the students to take chicken off the menu on Sunday, Raghib, mess secretary of Kaveri Hostel, said the menu is prepared at the start of every month and non-veg is served on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. There was no general body meeting at the hostel level to make any changes.

Mr. Raghib, who specified that he was not affiliated to any students’ organisation, said that on Saturday he received a message from the mess warden that non-vegetarian food should not be served on Sunday. “I asked him [warden] to give it in writing but he didn’t do it. It is members of the ABVP who on Sunday afternoon attacked the [meat] supplier and stopped the food items from being supplied to the mess. Due to this, only 130 meals for vegetarians were prepared at the hostel where approximately 300 students eat every day. There was a shortage of food at the mess on Sunday,” the mess secretary said.