Students, activists stage protest against JNU violence

Certain ideologies being imposed on people, say protesters

Scores of students and activists assembled at Jantar Mantar on Saturday and protested against the violence that erupted at Jawaharlal Lal Nehru University’s Kaveri hostel last Sunday. 

According to the protesters, the agitation was against the “patterns of communal violence taking place across the country in the name of certain ideologies being imposed on people”. 

They said the clashes that erupted on the JNU campus on Ram Navami were one such incident that “shook different communities and brought forward the question of communal harmony being isolated from the idea of a nation”. 

Saud, a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, while explaining the “narrative” being set, said the majority community has to understand that staying silent and not raising their voice will impact them, the people and the nation.. 

Shoaib, an All India Students Association (AISA) activist, said the JNU scuffle on April 10 received biased coverage in the media. “Media should address the question like it is. The media is using the word ‘clashes’ and ‘violence’ but what happened at JNU wasn’t a clash, but a one sided attack.”

The protesters raised slogans such as ‘ Musalmano pe hamla nahi chalega” (attacks on Muslim community will not be tolerated) and “communalism down down”.

They carried placards reading “vegetarian and meat are food choices, not opportunities of communal violence” and “Muslim Lives Matter”.