Page 40 - 30NOV2019EA

Egalitarian he ongoing students’ protest in Delhi’s prestig-

ious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) snowballed
into a political controversy after the Opposition,
Congress and CPI(M) supported the already
side of JNU T simmering student agitation. The massive protest
hogged the limelight this year not for Kanhaiya Kumar but for the
students’ fight for the right to get quality education at an afford-
able price.
fee hike stirred up a hornet’s nest and angry students hit the streets that
The JNU administration’s unprecedented fee hike decision
lead to the Parliament building demanding a complete rollback
of the recent hostel fee hike. Condemning excessive use of force
protests by the Delhi Police personnel on peaceful protesters, Communist
Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary and JNU alumnus Sita-
ram Yechury has equalled the situation with Emergency.
In a tweet, the CPI(M) leader said the university is under siege
and such a massive deployment of forces was not seen before. The
Delhi Police stopped forcibly stopped the JNU students march-
ing to Parliament against the unprecedented fee hikes, Yechury
Most of the students from backward and added. The Congress also took a pot shot at the ruling BJP over
economically weaker sections of the society the JNU unrest. “Just close down this institution and give these
turn to JNU to get quality education at special benefits meant for JNU students to Veda Upanishad-based
educational institutions...the unabated flow of taxpayer’s money
affordable cost, reports shamshad ali has turned the JNU into a fertile ground of anti-social elements,”

he clash over fee hike be- by students is an extension of an ongo- Water cannons were used to disperse
tween students of Jawaharlal ing tussle between them and the varsity the protestors and police said some of
Nehru University (JNU) and administration over different issues. The the students were detained.
the police and subsequent de- JNU Dean of Students’ Welfare Umesh The students shouted slogans like
T facing of the statue of Swami Kadam last month issued a notice asking “Police ko aage karta hai, JNU VC darta
Vivekananda shows that all is not going the union to vacate their office. However, hai”. During the scuffle with police per-
well at this top learning institute of the the students protested the move and sonnel, the students raised slogans like
country. did not allow the administration to lock “Police-walo ki ek bimari, Tis Hazari, Tis
The unsavoury students-police clash the office. Hazari”, referring to their clash with law-
began when Vice-President Venkaiah The current protest began on the day yers at the city’s Tis Hazari court a few
Naidu began his address. The students of
agitations in the recent years, were pro- All is not well at the leading varsity
the varsity, which has seen several such
testing outside the All India Council of
Technical Education (AICTE) premises, Why JNU, an institution of eminence, is again in the news for wrong
the venue for the varsity’s third convoca- reasons, wonders tehelka bureau
tion, which was addressed M Venkaiah
Naidu. The Union HRD Minister Ramesh of convocation and escalated as the day days back. Barricades were placed out-
Pokhriyal Nishank who had been invited progressed with crowds of angry stu- side the north and west gates of the JNU
as guest of honour at the convocation dents, with banners saying ‘Roll back campus, as well as on the route between
was not able to leave the campus for fee hike’, trying to push through a wall the AICTE auditorium and the univer-
about six hours. The JNUSU office-bear- of anti-riot police personnel to reach sity at Baba Balaknath Marg and nearby
ers later met ‘Nishank’ who assured them the venue. Several barricades put up by areas but the marching students broke
that their demands would be looked into. the police were broken by the students, one after the other.
The students alleged that the fee who started their march towards the However, the moot question is wheth-
and hostel charges had been increased AICTE premises, about 3 km away from er the stir was only because of fee hike
without consulting them. The protest the university’s campus in south Delhi. or ideological differences between the

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