JNU violence on Jan 5 was planned Naxal attack, says ABVP

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Monday (January 13) termed the January 5 violence on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus a “Naxal attack” and said it was planned on October 28.

Addressing a press conference, ABVP national general secretary Nidhi Tripathi said it will be wrong to call the movement against fee hike a student protest. “It was a Naxal attack on JNU. Its script was written on October 28, 2019, and it culminated through violence on January 5, 2020, where blood was shed and limbs were broken,” she said.

She said discussions are being held only on the incidents that occurred on January 5, and not about what happened earlier. “Discussions on JNU violence are restricted to January 5 only. It’ll have to be seen that the violence is not confined to January 5 only. It’ll have to be seen what transpired on the campus from October 28, 2019, to January 5, 2020,” she added.

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On January 5, about 100-odd masked assailants had unleashed terror on the campus and attacked students and faculty members with iron rods and sledgehammers. JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh suffered head injuries during the attack, which she alleged was by ABVP activists.

Ghosh was on Monday interrogated by Delhi Police in connection with the January 5 violence. The JNUSU and the JNU Teachers’ Association have been demanding the sacking of vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, blaming him for the January 5 mayhem.

(With inputs from agencies)

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