JNU students body vice-prez gets threat letter after Ramdev protest
Vice-president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) has complained to the National Commission for Women (NCW) alleging that she has received a threatening letter following her protest against Baba Ramdev’s visit to the campus.
Vice-president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) has complained to the National Commission for Women (NCW) alleging that she has received a threatening letter following her protest against Baba Ramdev’s visit to the campus.
Shehla Rashid Shora on Monday said that she had opposed the invitation extended to Ramdev as a keynote speaker in an academic conference due to which she had to face abusive comments on social media.
“At the JNUSU office, I received a letter addressed to me without the sender’s name or return address. I am attaching the letter here and I seek a meaningful intervention from the NCW because such kind of threatening and abusive letters limit the already shrunken political space for women,” she said in her complaint.
Saying she feels unsure of her safety as a woman, Shora said she is the only female among JNUSU office-bearers. “My fellow office-bearers don’t have to face comments on their body, sexuality and parentage. But, I have to... only because I am a woman,” she said.
In December last week Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was invited to address a keynote address at a seminar organised by the university’s Special Center for Sanskrit Studies. However, amid protests from a group of students, Ramdev said he won’t be able to make it to the seminar.
Ramdev had also said that he would love to talk to students and faculty at JNU whenever it’s possible in the near future.
Terming the move a “silent right-wing onslaught” on the varsity, JNUSU had demanded that the authorities withdraw their invitation to Ramdev to attend the ‘22nd International Congress of Vedanta’ or face protests.
“It is not possible to complain against each one of these. However, after the recent controversy over Baba Ramdev, this abuse went a step further. I can’t complain to the police because I do not know the person,” she said.