JNU row- Feb 9 and after: Authorities present their side of story

“Hum kya chahe, Azadi/Kashmir ki Azadi/Manipur ki Azadi/Nagaland ki Azadi” (We demand independence/Kashmir’s independence/Manipur’s independence/Nagaland’s independence), said one poster.

Another slogan heard was “Jo ishrat ne manga, azadi/Jo Manipur mange azadi/To Cheen ke lenge, azadi”.

“We urge you to kindly issue a letter clearly withdrawing this formal permission to the police and re-establish the credibility of our administration in the eyes of our community”.

Kolkata: In what could stoke fresh controversy, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha on Wednesday said Jadavpur University students who raised anti-India slogans need a good thrashing so that they understand the true value of nationalism.

Meanwhile, the vice chancellor claimed certain “fringe elements” had indulged in the pro-Guru sloganeering on Tuesday and called it “insignificant”. Alleging that “anti-national” slogans were raised on the campus, ABVP brought out a rally from Golpark to the campus in which BJP leaders Rupa Ganguly, Locket Chatterjee and Netaji kin Chandra Bose were also present.

The police chief said that the matter of students’ links with terrorist organisations was under investigation.

“This movement, which means its activists, sympathizers, spectators, must be attentive to what extent this movement itself is a statist movement i.e.to what extent it takes state to be a natural fact and politics itself as an action inside this limit, to what extent the images of war and spilling blood intoxicate us, us who want to achieve sovereignty”, the pamphlet read.

The university administration said it was approached by Delhi Police on February 11, who said “anti-national” sentiments had been allegedly voiced by some students and sought permission to enter the premises.

He said the meeting on JNU campus was held with the agenda of discussing “brahminical culture” but ended up with slogans eulogising Afzal Guru. “If some fringe elements have given such slogans then condemning the entire student body and maligning the image of the varsity is also unexpected and inconsequential”. During the day students of different departments brought out rallies inside the campus against the ABVP. The JNU authorities suspended eight other students. Very soon, come people will give them (Jadavpur students) a good thrashing, which they deserve.