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POLITICS

The national capital police which works under the
union ministry is still clueless. No arrests have been made yet.
Despite there being enough evidence in the form of videos
and personal accounts, with some faces having being recog-
nised by the students as well as social media users, the Delhi
Police showed little or no interest in making any headway in
the arrests.

What Opposition says
While the opposition alleged that the mob was composed of
ABVP men, they also questioned the Delhi Police’s inaction in
controlling the violence inside the university.
Speaking to Tehelka, the former External Affairs Minister,
Salman Khurshid, blamed BJP for creating an atmosphere of
fear and violence in the country. Khurshid, who arrived the
campus on the next day of violence said BJP wanted to cover
up the issue with their communal politics but said the people
knew the real face of their Hindutva ideology of suppressing
the minorities in the country.
“BJP gave the false cover of development and even some
people fall for it. In JNU violence, the government should give
assurance that this will never happen again, but so far no one
from the Union Ministry has said so,” the senior Congress lead-
er said.

Eyewitness accounts
“This was the third time when the masked men and women
were entering the campus again on January 5. Some of the
miscreants arrived at the Sabarmati hostel and started thrash-
dents and professors, in the FIR filed in connection with an ing students with rods, hammers and sticks. While escaping
attack on security guards and vandalism in a server room the carnage, some of the male students entered the girl’s wing
which happened on January 4. but the mob entered there also”, narrates Manisha Shukla, MA
The student leader, Aishe Ghosh, in her complaint to court first-year political science student.
had stated that a mob comprising of outsiders, ABVP-affiliated Manisha said the students were crying and horrified seeing
students, were conspiring to intimidate and attempt to kill her. attackers carrying acid and other substances to attack them.
Aishe Ghosh said that it was an organised attack. She also “The goons were hurling abuses at us. Some of my friends even
claimed that she could recognise her attackers who had hit said that they were sexually harassed during the attack,” Mani-
her with rods. Ghosh alleged that there was a nexus between sha claimed.
campus security guards and the Jyoti, an MA second-year stu-
attackers. She said the security left dent, whose video surfaced on
the campus when the attackers The terror unleashed by right-wing social media just after the mob at-
entered the university. mob sent shockwaves across the tack, said the armed goons could
Ghosh demanded Vice-Chan- have been motivated to unleash
cellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar’s country, with leading public figures terror on the students because of
resignation claiming he was inca- issuing profound condemnations. the events of the previous day also.
pable of holding the post of VC. She “The university had scheduled
alleged that Jagadesh Kumar was The fact that a violent mob went its registration process for the
working on the orders of BJP lead- winter semester between January
ership. Ghosh refused that she led on rampage in full presence of 1-5 this year. On January 4, a scuf-
an attack on the ABVP members police and that too in the heart of fle also broke out between the two
as the varsity should be seen in iso- groups when a student tried to
lation. The attack led by the ABVP the capital city caused profound restore the Wi-Fi after it was shut
is a targeted one and was aimed at consternation amongst those who down by the administration”, Jyoti
curbing the dissenting voices of added.
the students, she said. believe in a democratic India What was surprising that

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