Students of the leftist All India Students Association and ABVP members reportedly clashed yesterday at the JNU campus. The clashes broke out when the leftist students were protesting against Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s address at a seminar scheduled at the campus.
Watch: A scuffle broke out between members of AISA and ABVP during a seminar on #Article370 on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus earlier today. Students resorted to sloganeering during a talk by Union minister #JitendraSingh#JNU pic.twitter.com/q99ObOE17f
— TOI Delhi (@TOIDelhi) October 3, 2019
As per reports, Union Minister Jitendra Singh was to address a seminar organised on the JNU campus yesterday over the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The leftist students started protesting with placards and loud slogans at the venue.
The seminar was to be held at JNU Convention Centre from 3 pm yesterday. AISA members reportedly gathered before minister Jitendra Singh’s arrival and started sloganeering, creating a ruckus at the venue. Following alleged separatist sloganeering, ABVP members raised an objection and this reportedly led to arguments and clashes between the two student groups.
As per reports, the leftist students were raising separatist slogans while the ABVP members were trying to stop them from disrupting the event. Countering the separatist slogans, the ABVP members raised slogans like “Kashmir se Kanyakumari, Bharat mata ek hamari”.
Aaj Tak has quoted AISA leader and former JNUSU president N Sai Balaji has stated that AISA students were protesting at Jantar Mantar and no AISA member was there raising separatist slogans at the minister’s seminar venue.
It is notable here that the JNUSU had issued a statement against the minister’s address at the seminar and has stated that it condemns the ‘unilateral decision’ to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir and detention of opposition politicians.