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Stalin condemns AVBP’s ‘cowardly attack’ on Tamil students at JNU
In a series of tweets, Stalin on Monday accused the Delhi Police and Jawaharlal Nehru University administration of inaction
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin has condemned Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (AVBP)’s “cowardly attack on Tamil students” and vandalisation of portraits of Karl Marx and Dravidian movement founder Periyar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
In a series of tweets, Stalin on Monday accused the Delhi Police and JNU administration of inaction. “Universities are not just spaces for learning but also for discussion, debate & dissent,” he said.
He added JNU and the Delhi Police have been mute spectators to the violence unleashed on students, who are critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are fighting for their rights.
“I express my solidarity with the students and request VC [vice-chancellor] to initiate action against the culprits and protect students from Tamil Nadu.”
Ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) lawmaker T R B Rajaa on Tuesday tweeted a video of Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s conversation with a JNU student allegedly beaten up by those affiliated to ABVP, the student wing of BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is seen having a video call with the student seemingly with a head injury. The student is heard telling the minister that he just came out of the hospital and that several students were beaten up. Rajaa tweeted the video with the caption: “Fascism will end soon.”
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai accused the DMK of building a fake narrative. In a series of tweets, he put out the “other side of the story.”
Annamalai said the Left-wing student organisation Students’ Federation of India (SFI) first vandalised the portraits of Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj and Maharana Pratap saying there can only be that of Karl Marx and Lenin.
“SFI later retorted to abuses against women ABVP students which led to the exchange of blows from either side. Students from either side were injured in this incident,” Annamalai said.
He criticised Stalin for being tight-lipped about the soldier murdered by a DMK councillor in Krishnagiri. “As a responsible chief minister, one should advise the students of either side to learn to live in an environment with ideological differences and not fuel the fire,” Annamalai said.
DMK’s ally, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, also issued a statement blaming “BJP’s regressive forces” for creating “divisive politics in educational institutions.”
