THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017 6 TIMES CITY | CAMPUS CAULDRON After a DU student wrote on social media about her right to speak after the February 21 incident, an ABVP member trolled her that if she didn’t stop talking, they would send her to Rohit Vemula’s place. We will keep pushing for the punishment for Rohit’s killers and Najeeb’s attackers. I don’t think this struggle is just for Ramjas, DU or JNU, but I believe it is for Rohit, Najeeb and anyone who is a supporter of justice —ANIRBAN BHATTACHARYA | PHD SCHOLAR, JNU When I first came to Delhi as a UPSC aspirant, I used to often come to the Arts Faculty and would look at the smiling faces of the students here. Then I thought how wonderful they were. But that very year an election took place and ABVP came to power and I thought how could these wonderful people elect these kind of people. I don’t understand their slogans. They say ‘Joote maaro saalo ko’ and ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ together. How can they use both these phrases together? —KANHAIYA KUMAR | FORMER PRESIDENT, JNUSU Some people say that they won’t let DU become another JNU. JNU got the best university award from the President this year... We were accused of making ‘anti-national’ statements. But why is it that the police haven’t filed a chargesheet against us yet? We may be a handful but we never indulge in violence as it is not our culture. There are a few batsmen jinka balla aajkal galat jagah chal raha hai —SITARAM YECHURY | CPM Our nationalism is Indian nationalism and not their (BJP’s) idea of nationalism. They can carry a 200-ft Tiranga, but we have a much bigger Tiranga in our hearts. All universities in the country are facing ABVP’s dadagiri. We will keep on protecting students and their rights won’t be trampled upon —D RAJA | CPI We have fought against the British Raj and will keep fighting the BJP raj as well. They talk about sedition charges, but we faced several sedition charges during the Independence struggle and will keep on fighting. We stand in solidarity with the students present here. These students have been subjected to violence. I come here as a father whose daughter first studied at Hindu and now studies at JNU and I support the students’ rights —YOGENDRA YADAV | SWARAJ ABHIYAN New Delhi: The protests, hunger strike and rally for pea- ce held at Delhi University on Tuesday didn’t see any violen- ce till 3pm when three AISA ac- tivists were allegedly attacked outside SGTB Khalsa College. Nearly 2,000 students and tea- chers from DU, JNU, Ambed- kar University, Jamia Millia Is- lamia, Ashoka University and other institutes had assembled there after a sustained social media campaign. The participants called it “a protest against the violence unleashed by ABVP members on students and teachers”. Alt- hough the call for the rally was by the Left-backed groups, other students joined it in soli- darity against the violence on February 22. Aaryama Rastogi, a politi- cal science student at Daulat Ram College, said, “This pro- tests is to reclaim the space of freedom in DU. We don’t want ABVP to impose their version of nationalism.” The march began around 1pm outside Khalsa College where a street play competi- tion had allegedly been stop- ped by ABVP members. Many students were ange- red by the attack on their free- dom of speech and choice. “Our nationalism isn’t such that inviting one man or per- forming a play would weaken it,” said Ajun Uppal, a second- year student of Khalsa College. “We are all over 18 years of age and can understand things well,” he added. Several students and tea- chers of Ramjas also joined the march. “We are happy to be a part of this rally today. This support shows that students genuinely care about our struggle and what we faced at the hands of those who attack- ed us,” said a history student of Ramjas. Many Ramjas alumni also joined the massive crowd. “We are here to showcase the values instilled in us by Ramjas Colle- ge,” said Asifa Shaikh, a high court lawyer. NSUI too joined in the pro- tests by organising a hunger strike to oppose any form of violence in the campus. “Such acts are reprehensible. Most students want peace in the campus and are not interested in any tussle,” said Amrita Dhawan, NSUI president. Addressing the protesters near the Vivekananda statue at Arts faculty around 2.30pm, Prashant Mukherjee of SFI sa- id, “Swami Vivekananda is not the property of the bhagwava- adi. We also respect him.” Though many political lea- ders joined the gathering, a Ramjas student, Ayan Rinal, while addressing the crowd, sa- id, “There are no leaders here. We are all in this together. It’s a struggle of students against those who attacked us.” Students & Teachers From DU, JNU & Other Varsities Join Peaceful Protest Thousands rally to reclaim ‘freedom’ POWER PLAY: Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid Shora joined the protest on North Campus Anindya Chattopadhyay Mohammad.Ibrar @timesgroup.com New Delhi: Delhi Police mana- ged to ward off a repetition of the violence witnessed in the campus earlier by implementing a well thought out plan on Tuesday du- ring the protest march against ABVP. After the campus witnes- sed unruly cops running amok under a helpless DCP, the police were extra vigilant this time. They roped in a group of young IPS officers – all from JNU – to ma- nage the show. From Esha Pandey to Chinmoy Biswal and Nupur Prasad, DCP rank officers from across the city were called in to handle the protesters. More than 1,500 cops were deployed, turning the campus into a fortress. These officers didn’t simply keep a check on the protesters but interacted with the leaders even as a dozen teams, led by no-non- sense officers like Mandeep Singh Randhawa, kept the members of ABVP at bay. Their leaders were asked to stay away from the pro- test route between 11.30am and 2pm. The cops also deployed spot- ters around the route to keep an eye on elements that could create trouble. Policemen were also de- ployed around Ramjas College to prevent some of the student union members from coming out. “It was important to interact with the leaders to ensure things didn’t go out of hand,” said a se- nior police officer. “We had asked them to gather all the protesters at one point and then allowed them to begin the march so that no one else was allowed to join them later. In fact, those who had joined the march were requested to leave on- ly after they reached their desti- nation,” said a police officer. The cops first formed a protec- tive cordon around 3000-4000 stu- dents as they started marching from Khalsa College. Those joi- ning the march were asked to identify themselves after reports were received about the likeliho- od of violence by left wing extre- mist outfits. The routes through which the protesters marched we- re cleared of onlookers. Cops in plainclothes were also deployed to ensure that the protesters leaving the venue were not attacked while on their way to the Metro stations or bus stops. “Adequate security arrange- ments were made to ensure that the protests were peaceful and the areas in which the students and teachers reside were secured. We have also deployed additional for- ces to maintain safety and securi- ty over the next few days,” said De- pendra Pathak, special commis- sioner, south-western range. The policemen also shut down shops selling food items and cold drinks along the way to prevent miscre- ants from using bottles and eggs as projectiles. Unlike last Thurs- day, teams were specially deploy- ed around the hostel near Chhat- ra Marg to ensure that no one threw anything at the protesters that could spark off a clash. The civic body too was asked to clear the stretches between Gu- ru Teg Bahadur Road and Chhat- ra Marg of roadside construction material. All other roads leading to Khalsa College was blocked for the general public when the pro- test march was on. The Delhi Poli- ce has submitted a six-page report to the MHA on the DU incidents late on Tuesday evening. JNU alumni in khaki kept trouble at bay IN CONTROL New Delhi: Two Delhi Univer- sity students allegedly affilia- ted with Akhil Bharatiya Vidy- arthi Parishad (ABVP) were ar- rested after they had got into a scuffle with three All India Students Association (AISA) activists near Chhatra Marg on Tuesday. A police complaint was la- ter registered by the AISA acti- vists. ABVP, however, denied that the arrested duo — Pras- hant Sharma and Vinayak Mishra — are members of the- ir organisation. The complaint states that the incident happened around 3pm when the three DU stu- dents — Aman Kumar, Raj Singh and Utkarsh Bhardwaj — were returning from the pro- tests. The youths said that they had stopped by the roadside to help Bhardwaj with an injec- tion for his breathing problem. Suddenly, a group of 7-8 yo- uths coming from Patel Chest allegedly punched them and be- at them with their belts during which they were injured on their eyes and shoulders. The youths alleged that the at- tackers also tried to strangulate one of them. A group of policemen saw the incident, caught hold of the attackers and took them to Maurice Nagar police station. Later, the three AISA activists registered a complaint. They were taken to a hospital for a medico-legal report of their injuries. DCP (north) Jatin Narwhal said that a case under IPC sec- tions of assault and criminal conspiracy has been registered against the accused students and they have been arrested. ABVP members held for assault on AISA activists TIMES NEWS NETWORK ABVP, however, denied that the duo arrested after the scuffle were its members T he Delhi Commission for Women issued a notice to Facebook, asking it to deactivate accounts of those who had issued rape threats to Kaur. Kaur’s teachers at LSR, who were present at the march, re- leased a combined statement lauding her reaction to the vio- lence. “It is immensely gratify- ing to us as her teachers that she has responded sensitively, cre- atively and bravely to events in her immediate context rather than seek the refuge of silence... We are proud that Gurmehar has fulfilled her duty as a young citizen of this country,” it said. Her teachers also called cricketer Virender Sehwag and actor Randeep Hooda's re- sponses as “shameful”. “Re- sponses on social media by pub- lic figures such as Virender Seh- wag and Randeep Hooda are shameful trivialisation of the intimidation that Gurmehar faces at the hands of the violent mobs whose viciousness the university has recently wit- nessed,” they said. The state- ment has been signed by 17 teachers of the English depart- ment at LSR. Meanwhile, CM Arvind Kej- riwal met the lieutenant gover- nor over the violence during a seminar on ‘Culture of protests’ at Ramjas College last week and sought action against students who had indulged in violence. DCW asks FB to deactivate accounts of accused Continued from P1 Several students and teachers of Ramjas also joined the march New Delhi: Ramjas College students joined the protest march against February 22 violence on Tu- esday. They carried placards that said — “Ramjas is united against anti-national,” “Kanyakumari se Kashmir, Bharat mata ek hain.” There were sloga- neering saying “Ramjas hum tumhare saath hain.” The protest that started from the gates of SGTB Khalsa College crossed Mansorawar hostel, Mi- randa House, SRCC, Patel Chest crossing and Dau- lat Ram with sloganeering and drumbeats till Ram- jas College. However, at Ramjas College gate they were gree- ted with black placards. Leading the group were Yo- git Rathi, president of the college students’ union and Ankit Sangwan, general secretary, DUSU. Other side of protests TIMES NEWS NETWORK Anindya Chattopadhyay NOT TAKING IT LYING DOWN: Many students were angered by the attack on their freedom of speech In Loving Memory of MRS. 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