JNU violence: Jadavpur University students hit Kolkata streets, slam BJP-ABVP

Beginning from JU Gate Number 4, the rally proceeded towards the Jadavpur Police Station, took a U-turn and again moved towards the Sulekha More.

With banners reading "Nathuram Godse in your heart while Khudiram (Bengali freedom fighter Khudiram Bose) is in our heart", the protestors slammed the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) men for allegedly attacking the JNU students, including its students' wing president Aishe Ghosh and professor Sucharita Sen.

It should be noted that ABVP is the students' wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which rules the country and is the most prominent opposition party in West Bengal.

So not sparing the BJP, one of the protestors standing in front of a banner reading the title of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poem "Hum Dekhenge" which was recently brought to a controversial light, vowed to take revenge though filmmaker Anik Dutta, who was also present at the protest rally, disagreed.

"Enough is enough. Now it is the time to hit back at those who will beat the students. We will take the revenge of the bloodshed which took place yesterday," the angry protestor was heard saying reminding the blood-stained face of Aishe Ghosh.

Cautioning the students, Dutta said revenge will also give the attackers an advantage though he urged the protestors not to withdraw themselves from self-defence.

Quoting French writer Voltaire who had said "Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool", Dutta tried to bring out the difference between the mob who had attacked the JNU campus and ransacked it and the students who hit the streets on Monday.

"People who are attacking are uneducated and unemployed young people who are channelising their anger in a wrong manner. The mob is motivated by statements like the students (of JNU) are urban-naxals, anti-nationals. Seeds of religious venom have been sown in them," the filmmaker told IBNS.

Agni, a History student at the JU and "once a supporter" of the Narendra Modi government, bared his anger saying, "Earlier I had thought they (the BJP government) might bring something new but now I am seeing they are not doing it, rather what they are taking away from the mass is the essence of India. In that case, they should be very careful because we are not going to be quiet....India is a diverse country. They should be careful of the mass which brought them to power."

"Since the time BJP came to power, it is attacking education in various ways. Now we have reached a stage where goons are entering a university campus and beating people. It is now not a matter of one university but the educational institutions across the country," commented Sampriti, who is a PhD. scholar from the university.

Artist Ryan, who was singing songs with a guitar while walking the stretch with the students, said, "It is not the time to sit at home. We all should come and hit the streets.... The BJP government was voted to power with majority but now it is getting worse day by day."

(Image Credit: Avishek Mitra/IBNS)