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On JNU violence, HRD Minister says educational institutions won’t be allowed to become political hubs
Ramesh Pokhriyal who was in Bhubaneswar for the launch ceremony of next month’s Khelo India University Games, said that educational institutions like JNU are for academic purposes only and should be used for pursuit of education.
A day after several students and teachers of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University were injured in an attack by a gang of masked men, Union human resources development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said Monday educational institutions in the country would not be allowed to become political hubs.
Pokhriyal who was in Bhubaneswar for the launch ceremony of next month’s Khelo India University Games, told reporters that educational institutions like JNU are for academic purposes only and should be used for pursuit of education.
“I have said this earlier also that these autonomous institutions cannot be allowed to become political ‘adda’ (hubs).Anyone found guilty in the JNU violence would not be spared,” said Pokhriyal.
He also said that the HRD secretary has spoken to the officials of JNU.
Ahead of Pokhriyal’s engagement, hundreds of people gathered at Bhubaneswar’s protest site - Master Canteen Square – near the state assembly to denounce the violence at JNU. The protesters including leaders of CPI (M), CPI, the Forward Block, CPI (ML) and activists of several organisations.
Former secretary of the CPI (M)’s Odisha unit Janardan Pati demanded that the Supreme Court should suo motu order a probe to bring out the truth into the JNU violence. CPI leader Ramakrushna Panda alleged that violence was sponsored by the ABVP and BJP.
In Rama Devi Women’s University of Bhubaneswar, a group of activists of the All-India Democratic Students Organisation staged a demonstration holding placards saying “Stop hooliganism on JNU campus.”
Similarly, in Utkal University, Odisha’s biggest and oldest university, members of Biju Chhatra Janata Dal staged protest holding placards condemning the alleged role of the ABVP in the JNU violence.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik also expressed his shock and outrage at the violence at JNU. “Violence has no space in democracy and such attacks on students must be condemned unequivocally. Appeal law enforcement agencies to take swift action to apprehend the culprits and wish the injured students a speedy recovery,” he tweeted.
Reacting to the JNU violence, vice-chancellor of Utkal University, Prof Soumendra Mohan Patnaik said that there is no place for violence in any academic place.
“Utkal University has adopted Gandhian approach and experimented it in the campus. We have built a citadel of non-violence called Ahimsa Sthal inside the campus. Universities are free spaces and everyone should have the freedom to express their ideas. Universities are the places where we cultivate the next generation which includes political leadership, industries, administration, academics, civil society and judiciary. It is a miniature society.”
