After the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 riots conspiracy case, a group of JNU students raised controversial slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah inside the university campus.
According to a purported video of the protest on Monday night, slogans were raised condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Aditi Mishra said that every year students protest to condemn the violence that took place on the campus on January 5, 2020.
“All the slogans raised at the protest were ideological and did not attack anyone personally. They were not targeted at anyone,” Mishra told PTI.
A senior police officer said that no complaint has been received yet in this matter. However, Delhi ministers Ashish Sood and Manjinder Singh Sirsa condemned the incident and accused the opposition of supporting people indulging in such acts.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the second day of the winter session of the Delhi Assembly, Sood said, “Sharjeel Imam had talked about separating Northeast India. Umar Khalid had raised slogans of ‘India will be torn into pieces’ and was found to be involved in the 2020 riots. Sympathy is shown towards such people because there are people in this Assembly who had shared the stage with Sharjeel Imam.”
He said that when such people are given protection, such things are bound to happen.
Sood further said, “Whatever has happened in JNU, where Sharjeel Imam and Omar Khalid have been supported, is condemnable and anti-national. Policy issues can be debated, but there is no place for violence in a democracy.”
Sirsa also expressed similar sentiments and alleged that those raising slogans had no respect for the Constitution or the law.
He told reporters, “These are separatist people. It is extremely shameful to raise such slogans against the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. The Aam Aadmi Party and Congress have always supported such people.”
Violence broke out on campus on January 5, 2020, when a mob of masked men stormed the campus and targeted students in three hostels, thrashing students with sticks, stones and iron rods, beating up hostel residents and breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings.
At least 28 people, including the then JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos prevailed on the campus for nearly two hours.
Delhi Police was attacked for not taking action when the mob was rioting on the campus, and specifically for naming student union leaders, including Ghosh, in two FIRs related to campus vandalism.
