Fresh row over Kanhaiya’s army statement, BJYM files complaint
The BJP youth wing on Wednesday filed a complaint against Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar for his remark that army men raped Kashmiri women.
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) filed a police complaint against Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday over his alleged defiance of bail conditions by making “anti-national” statements.
The BJP’s youth wing filed the complaint in Vasant Vihar police station against Kumar as well JNU teacher Nivedita Menon.
“We have received the complaint and the matter is being looked into. No FIR has been registered yet,” a senior police officer said.
JNU students’ union president Kumar had made the statements while addressing students at a Women’s Day march late on Tuesday night.
“No matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against Afspa. While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel,” he had said.
BJYM’s national media convener Shivam Chhabra alleged Kumar addressed the gathering despite the Delhi high court’s directions. He cited TV channel links as evidence.
“Despite the submission of an undertaking before court, Kanhaiya has yet again addressed a gathering of students and uttered poisonous words against the Indian Army, labelling them as rapists of Kashmiri Women,” a BJYM statement said.
“JNU professor Nivedita Menon has been spewing hatred against the Indian Armed Forces in public meetings as well. She made statements like it is recognised worldwide that India is illegally occupying Kashmir,” it added.
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Menon, who teaches at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory at the School of International Studies in JNU, said she did not say anything that was anti-national.
She, however, clarified to HT earlier about her lecture on nationalism in JNU.
“India is seen by many as illegally occupying Kashmir (and Pakistan too is seen in the same way). This is why there are constantly maps coming from American and European publications depicting Kashmir in different ways that India keeps objecting to,” she had said.
Menon said this was her view and not that of the university.
Kanhaiya’s party All India Students Federation (AISF) maintained, “He made the remarks in context of atrocities on women worldwide and not just in Kashmir. He in no way meant to demean Army or any other force and he clarified that in his speech too”.
The ABVP, which had objected to the February 9 event as well, also issued a statement saying, “The judge in her order also advised Kanhaiya to not forget the contribution of those sacrificing lives on borders. His statement is an attack on Indian Army”.
Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 over an event on the campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly shouted. He was granted an interim bail for six months by Delhi high court last week.