Page 22 - 31JAN2020E3

the mob didn’t show mercy on Surya Prakash — a visually- dents for turning the educational hub into a war-zone. “We can
impaired research student at JNU— also bore the brunt do anything for the welfare of our country. The government is
of mob violence. Despite his repeated plea to the mob, he there to listen but these anti-nationals will not be successful
was thrashed with iron rod and sticks inside the Sabarmati to turn our country into a battlefield,” said the wife of a former
hostel. army officer, who was also part of the protest.
While sharing his account to Tehelka, Prakash said: “I was The ruling BJP also supported the ABVP saying ‘it was not
doing my work inside my room when the mob arrived and possible’ for them to carry out an attack of this scale. Multiple
they heavily kicked the door. The glass above it was smashed leaders of the party pinned the blame on the left-wing stu-
on the ground and some pieces of it hit me also”. dents, who they said were desperate to create trouble at every
“I immediately called up the 100 number, but the police opportunity. However, multiple video evidence showed many
said I should first get some injury after which they will come to known ABVP students wearing masks and attacking students
rescue me,” said the research student. “Since then, I am getting during the fateful night. The leaked Whatsapp group conversa-
unnecessary calls from the unknown numbers like 8763xxxx11 tions also revealed the nexus of the ABVP students, detailing
and 8754xxxx66. Even I informed the police regarding the the planning and execution of the attack. The attackers were
numbers but they denied to help me by saying they will start also heard chanting the right-wing slogan ‘Desh ke gaddaron
the investigation after I get thrashed, calling me an anti-na- ko goli maaro saalon ko,” which reinforced the belief that they
tional”, maintained Surya Prakash. were from the ABVP.

Locals harassed too Bollywood comes in support
The JNU incident of January 5 not only left many students trau- A galaxy of stars from Bollywood, including the actors Taap-
matised but many locals who live nearby the campus were see Pannu, Swara Bhaskar, Richa Chadda, Mohd Zeeshan Ayub
equally terrified. The mob attacked the locals for providing Khan, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Farhan Akhtar and
shelter to female students who were escaping from the hor- Directors such as Anurag Kashyap, Anubhav Sinha, Vishal
ror. The mob had broken the gates of these residents and were Bhardwaj and many others expressed support to the JNU
trying to force themselves inside. They even warned the locals students and joined the protestors in many cities across the
not to help the hapless students if they wanted to live peace- country.
fully in that area. Earlier, while talking to the reporter, actor Mohd Zeeshan
Tehelka visited the nearby houses outside the North Gate of Ayub Khan, said, “Let’s not waste time in asking why this or that
JNU, and spoke with some of the house owners who blamed celebrity is silent. Instead, let’s stand together. Let’s not forget
the armed mob for destroying their property. that thousands of people have come out on the streets.”
While pointing towards the broken gate, a local resident in The people were pleasantly surprised when the mega
her 50s, spoke to Tehelka on the account of anonymity: “When star Deepika Padukone reached JNU to express solidar-
I heard the slogans at night, I along with my son came out and ity with Aishe Ghosh who was seriously injured in the attack.
we saw some of the students were crying. I tried to console Many more stars from Bollywood, including Sunil Shetty,
them but they were scared and traumatised. My son and I took Shatrughan Sinha, Zoya Akhtar, Dia Mirza, Rahul Bose, Ali
some of them inside the house.” Fazal, Sudhir Mishra, Saurabh Shukla, Swanand Kirkire also
“As soon as the mob heard about the students who were expressed solidarity with the students of JNU and urged the
inside the house. They started throwing stones at our house centre to take urgent steps to identify the culprits and restore
and abused us. We kept quiet as rule of law.
my son told me that they are car- The brazen attack on JNU stu-
rying stones, iron rods and sticks Delhi Police names Aishe Ghosh dents has forced lakhs of citizens
to threaten us. Later, after half an and 19 others in the FIR filed in across Indian cities to hit the roads
hour, the mob escaped from the in large numbers. Reports came
spot,” she added. connection with an attack on in from across the country, with
security guards and vandalism in many renowned colleges and
Right-wing supporters universities also joining the pro-
In solidarity, Akhil Bharatiya Vid- a server room which happened on tests demanding justice for the
yarthi Parishad (ABVP) supporters attack victims. Calls are also grow-
held a rally outside the JNU. The January 4. JNUSU leader Ghosh, ing for the ouster of JNU VC, who
protesters pleaded innocence and meanwhile, states that a mob had failed to prevent the attack
pointed the finger at the Left in- on the students and continues to
stead for the horrific violence. comprising outsiders and ABVP fail to make any headway into
Manjusha Ranjan, a poet who students were conspiring to investigations.
was protesting in solidarity with
the ABVP, blamed the JNU stu- intimidate and attempt to kill her LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

22