New Delhi: A group of six Delhi University students, mostly first year undergraduates, have come to their friend’s house in South Delhi’s Panchsheel Enclave. “Staying on campus right now is not safe,” says one, visibly shaken after the events of the day. “We have been hearing a lot of rumours right now, one of which is that the ABVP guys are going around campus on motorcycles, raiding hostels and PG accommodations. Maybe none of this is true but we couldn’t take any chances after what happened today.”
Delhi University’s prestigious North Campus witnessed bloody scenes on Wednesday after a protest march against the RSS-linked Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) turned ugly. The unrest on campus began the previous day. On Tuesday, Ramjas College cancelled a seminar titled ‘Culture of protest’. This was done after ABVP activists protested against the participation of JNU research scholar Umar Khalid and former JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid.
Khalid was scheduled to speak in the afternoon on the topic ‘The War in Adivasi Areas’ at the event was organised by the college’s Literary Society. However, the protests began even before he could arrive. Khalid made the news last year when he was booked on charges of sedition alongside fellow research scholar Anirban Bhattacharya and then JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. The trio was accused of shouting anti-India slogans on the JNU campus.
A video of Tuesday’s events, that has gone viral on social media, shows stones being pelted at the event allegedly by ABVP activists. Professors in Ramjas College had claimed that Khalid was invited due to his “academic credentials”. Police had to cordon off the College.
On Wednesday, a protest march was organized at 1 pm from Ramjas College to Maurice Nagar police station to protest against the ABVP’s actions. The protests were met with violent resistence as the ABVP clashed with agitating students. Journalists covering the event were also manhandled during the chaos.
A student, who does not wish to be identified for fear of being “persecuted” by the ABVP, recalls how the violence started on Tuesday, “At first, the organizers decided to go ahead with the seminar despite ABVP’s protests. We all went in to attend the seminar and suddenly, we heard windows all around us shatter.
Massive rocks were being thrown at us. We all ducked for cover and the seminar room was filled with screams. Somehow, we managed to escape. We came to Ramjas again the next day to protest against ABVP but even before the march began, they got violent.”
He adds, “It was not a case of two student unions clashing. This was an assault. We were not even inside Ramjas when suddenly we saw stones flying towards us from beyond the gate. They even made rape threats against girls. One was telling girls that he has taken their picture and he would come for them at night.”
The situation, says another student, was much worse inside the College. “We were near the Ramjas canteen when we saw ABVP guys come in from all sides. They started flooding the college premises and we were forced to run for our lives. We found a corner with the police and our professors standing in front of us to protect us. Every now and then, the police blockade would loosen and one of them would break through. They couldn’t tolerate it even if when we were singing songs!”
For over four hours, students inside Ramjas could not move out. The ABVP, some say, surrounded the college. It was only around 5 pm that the students were evacuated and the action moved to Maurice Nagar Police Station. Despite these protests, the police failed to register an FIR on Wednesday. “They were beating us up outside the police station in front of the cops. What I found most ironical is that they were beating people with the tricolor! That is, perhaps, the most apt metaphor for this situation. They are using national symbols to silence us.”
Even professors say they were not spared. Ish Mishra, a 62-year-old in the department of Political Science at Hindu College, says, “Umar aur aude ka bhi lihaaz nahi kiya (They considered neither age nor position of the person they were assaulting). I saw a goon brutally assaulting a girl. When I saw what was happening, I tried to stop it. That is when he turned on me. Instead of stopping him, the police constable at the site was trying to help him. Many of my colleagues have been injured very badly.”
On Thursday morning, the protesters marched to the Delhi Police headquarters demanding that an FIR be filed. After nearly four hours of protest, the FIR was finally filed. The FIR named both the ABVP and the left-leaning All India Students’ Association (AISA). The protesters say they are not satisfied.
Ironically, the incident took place in Ramjas College, which has produced one of the finest debating societies in the country. Pradyumna Jairam, who was president of the Ramjas Debating Society in 2009, joined the protest in his alma mater. “The FIR is unfair because it names ABVP and AISA as equal parties in the case. First of all, it was not an AISA protest. It was a protest of common students and teachers. Secondly, the assault by the ABVP was unprovoked. I was hit on the back of the head with a stone.
Luckily, I was wearing a muffler which softened the blow. An ABVP man hit me in the back with a lathi on Wednesday. A little while later, another man threw his shoes at me because I smiled at him! The police did nothing. A Clash is defined as a violent confrontation. The student and faculty protesters were non-violent, carrying no stones, bricks, sticks, lathis etc. The lynch mob hurled stones, kicked, shoved, assaulted, beat up with impunity.”
The ABVP, however, has stood its ground and rubbished these allegations. Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) president Amit Tanwar told News 18, “The ABVP did not tell any of its cadre to indulge in any violence. We are a non-violent student outfit. Some girls from their side were abusing us and they were insulting Bharat Mata. We did not start the violence. We do not have any problems with the FIR and we will wait for the police to do its job.”
The situation on campus, however, continues to be tense. Several students have moved out of their respective accommodations to seek safe space elsewhere in the city. The police have even assured that students’ safety would continue to be a priority. Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik tweeted on Thursday, “Assure all students & their parents that Delhi Police will keep 24x7 arrangements in & around North Campus for normal university functioning.”
Meanwhile, back in Panchsheel Enclave, the students discuss whether they want to join Thursday’s protests when one of them says, “Let’s go. Hum nahi jayenge toh kaun jayega? (If we don’t go, then who will?)”
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