JNU DRAMA Flashcards
students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University > organised an event on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru who was hanged in 2013. This was to be done the day after Guru’s third death anniversary.
- The event organisers had pasted posters across the campus inviting students to gather for a protest march against “judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat”
- and in solidarity with the “struggle” of Kashmiri migrants at the Sabarmati dhaba in the campus.
The programme called “A country without a post office — against the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt”, was supposed to showcase the protest through poetry, art and music.
This set off the row, with the Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staging a protest to demand expulsion of the organisers.
ABVP members alleged that the protest march consisted of students shouting ‘anti-India’ slogans. A purported video from the event shows students shouting anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans. Students in the video are heard saying slogans like: “Kashmir ki azai tak bharat ki azadi tak, janh rahegi jari”.
A student who was a part of the event organising committee, told The Hindu: “The programme was a cultural evening organised to question the working of the Supreme Court. It was also meant to bring the grievances of the Kashmiri citizens to light. The struggles of ‘self-determination’ must be openly spoken about. Considering this is a democratic republic, why should dissent be suppressed?”
A case of sedition against several unknown students was lodged at Vasant Kunj (North) police station.
The university also initiated action, barring eight students from academic activity pending an enquiry, though they would be allowed to stay as guests in the hostels.
JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition charges after allegations of ‘anti-national’ sloganeering against him surfaced.
