DU Students March Against ABVP

Hundreds of students and teachers of the Delhi University hit the streets on Tuesday afternoon to protest against campus violence as more political leaders and sportspeople joined the swirling nationalism row. A crowd of about 2,000 -- comprising pupils from several DU colleges and other city universities -- marched from SGTB Khalsa College to arts faculty, shouting slogans against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) that allegedly thrashed several students last week. “As a student of DU it was time for me to stand against aggressive culture before it was too late,” said Samudra Gogoi, a student of the Delhi School of Economics. The march was joined by political leaders such as CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Janata Dal (United)'s KC Tyagi and Swaraj Abhiyan's Yogendra Yadav. Delhi Police lodged a case against unknown persons for alleged rape threats made to Lady Shri Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur, who hit the headlines on Monday for condemning the ABVP in a social media post. On Twitter, poet Javed Akhtar and grappler Yogeshwar Dutt wrestled it out after the Olympian mocked Gurmehar. “If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr it's understandable but what's wrong with some educated folks,” the lyricist tweeted, after Dutt posted a photo mocking Gurmehar. The wrestler responded minutes later, saying he might not write poems but still made the country proud – a reference to his London 2012 Olympics bronze medal.