On November 14, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students affiliated with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) were allegedly attacked by students affiliated with Left alliances, including AISA and SFI. Reports suggest that several dozen students sustained injuring during the clash. The injured were rushed to AIIMS for treatment.
As per ABVP, some members had called a meeting that was taking place in the Student Activity Room at JNU. During the meeting, students of Left alliances came and tried to disrupt it. A clash erupted between the groups after the left-leaning students allegedly attacked and beat up ABVP members. They have further said that women and divyang students were injured in the attack. Some of the students sustained serious wounded and were rushed to AIIMS for treatment.
In a tweet, ABVP Delhi said, “In yet another instance of Campus Naxalism, Left parties violently attacked a peaceful meeting of ABVP activists in JNU earlier tonight. Finger of a MA student was broken in this brutal assault, a Divyang student was manhandled, and various ABVP activities were hit.”
ABVP demands stringent action against these unruly elements who have time & again destroyed the peace of JNU Campus.
— ABVP Delhi (@ABVPDelhi) November 14, 2021
They further demanded stringent action against the ‘unruly elements’.
ABVP JNU Unit President Shivam Chaurasia, in a video statement, said, “ABVP JNU was conducting the weekly organizational meeting on Sunday. We conduct these meetings every Sunday. The fringe elements of the Left groups entered the Student Activity Room and said it was time for their meeting, and we were forcefully occupying the space. We told them that the meeting would be concluded in 30-60 minutes, but they started threatening us. They said, ‘we are JNUSU, and we own this room. If anyone wants to use the room, they have to take our permission.’ Their 100 Flower group attacked us and disrupted our meeting.”
Statement by @abvpjnu Unit President @Shivam_JNU on attack on #ABVP activists by Leftist organisations last night !!!@JNU_official_50 @JagranNews @republic @Jansatta @AmarUjalaNews @DainikBhaskar @aajtak @IndiaAheadNews @ABVPVoice pic.twitter.com/nYvAPEm7Ca
— ABVP JNU (@abvpjnu) November 15, 2021
Rohit Kumar, Secretary, ABVP JNU, said, “ABVP was holding a meeting after taking permission for the same. However, the Left-leaning group of students not only disrupted our meeting but also attacked our members. Women and divyang students got injured during the attack.”
OpIndia reached out to Shivam Chaurasia to get more information about the incident. He said every week, ABVP holds a meeting in the designated room. On Sunday night, a group of left-leaning students came and asked them to leave the premises. When we did not bend down to their demands, they attacked our members. He said, “They were raising slogans like ‘RSS Murdabad’, ‘ABVP Murdabad’, ‘ABVP Campus Chodo’ and more. They also threatened our new members.”
Nidhi Tripathi, National General Secretary, ABVP, wrote, “ABVP JNU students, who were peacefully holding a meeting, have been attacked by Maoist leftists. They broke an ABVP worker’s fingers and also hit a differently-abled student.”
शांतिपूर्ण तरीके से बैठक कर रहे ABVP JNU के कार्यकर्ताओं पर माओवादी वामपंथियों ने हमला कर दिया है। JNU ABVP के कार्यकर्ता की उंगली तोड दी और दिव्यांग छात्र को भी मारा। pic.twitter.com/Ek8gxsOmVo
— निधि त्रिपाठी நிதி திரிபாதி (@nidhitripathi92) November 14, 2021
Later on Sunday night, ABVP JNU held a protest march against the attack on its members.
JNU में ABVP के कार्यकर्ताओं और दिव्यांग छात्र पर हमले के विरुद्ध में JNU के छात्रों ने मार्च निकालकर माओवादी वामपंथियों का विरोध किया। pic.twitter.com/QXv06soasE
— निधि त्रिपाठी நிதி திரிபாதி (@nidhitripathi92) November 14, 2021
On the other hand, Aishe Ghosh, president of the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), blamed ABVP for the clash and alleged it was ABVP that initiated the attack and injured students of Left-alliances.
ABVP students who got injured during the attack have filed complaints at the Police station. In the complaints, the students mentioned the series of events that led to an attack on them. The complaints also noted that the students of left alliances threatened the ABVP members to ask the professors to fail them in exams. The female student who was attacked said in her complaint that the attackers pushed her, threw an iron chair on her and hit her in the abdomen. The students claimed that the attackers were led by one Vivek Pandey.
