JNU students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was attacked by a man, while the former was interacting with the fellow students.
Responding to the attack, Kanhaiya said that, he “wont be intimated by such attacks" and added that "the fact the attacker was escorted out of the campus peacefully, depicts the true nature of JNU".
The incident took place outside the administration block in the evening, when Vikas Chaudhary, a resident of Ghaziabad, spotted Kanhaiya walking in the same area. Kanhaiya, at that moment, was walking towards the stairs of the ad block, where classes on nationalism were being held. The moment Vikas manhandled Kanhaiya, a JNU professor intervened and the student leader was escorted out of the area.
Introducing himself as the private builder, the aggressive Vikas said that had come to the university only “for Kanhaiya”. He further cleared the air saying that he was not affiliated to any political group and had planned to attack the students leader only for “Bharat Matha”.
A suitable action would be taken on Vikas, based on the statement of the eye witness, the police said.
Responding on the issue, Kanhaiya meanwhile spoke to the university students saying, “You can do whatever, but you cannot scare me, whenever you are trying to attack me, just think of Rohith. You killed one Rohith and see how many of us have become Rohiths.”
“Amidst many people one man attacks me and he still goes safe. I told security guards that they should do to him whatever they want. We do not have double standard, we do not want police in campus and we do not want for anyone. If I am being attacked, it is poor students like Rohith Vemula are being attacked,” he said also evoking Chandu, a JNU student leader who was murdered in 1997 for his political activism.
"I am afraid that they are trying to make JNU a bigger jail, where they have kept me. We will not tolerate any kind of surveillance," he added. The student leader also said that when his opposition to Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) does not mean, he supports separatism.
“We are against your kind of nationalism, which is saffron nationalism, when we are trying to oppose that, we are being attacked. When we oppose violence, we oppose all kinds of violence be it state sponsored or by anyone else,” he said.
After his speech, the students leader later went to the exit gate and spoke to Vikas, to find out the reason behind his attack and tried to clear “misunderstandings”.
By Phani Ch
