New Delhi: A delegation of political leaders on Saturday met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and requested him to launch a probe to establish the authenticity of the evidence of the JNU campus incident.
The delegation included CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI national secretary D. Raja and Janata Dal-United secretary general K.C. Tyagi.
“Authenticity of evidence must be established, which is only possible through an independent inquiry,” Yechury said after meeting Kejriwal.
“We requested the CM to institute an independent inquiry in the matter.”
Jawaharlal Nehru University students on Tuesday had organised a meet on the campus to mourn the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) co-founder Maqbool Bhat, where anti-India slogans were raised.
Another commemorative meeting was held at the Press Club of India in Delhi on Wednesday where too, anti-India slogans were raised and placards were shown.
Yechury said that since the incident took place in the territory of Delhi, the “city government reserves all rights to establish the authenticity of evidence”.
Tyagi said the veracity of the video clippings — showing people shouting anti-national slogans — that were being circulated should be checked and “Kejriwal is best in doing so”.
Delhi Police on Friday arrested JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of raising anti-India slogans during the demonstration on the campus.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) on Saturday condemned the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case.
“This crackdown is nothing but a pre-planned war by the Modi government against campus democracy and the student movement,” CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said in a press statement.
“Just as Rohith Vemula was branded anti-national and subjected to a witchhunt, JNU student activists are being subjected to the same political witchhunt,” he added.
He said that campuses like JNU are being targeted for raising voices of dissent against the government and the Sangh Parivar.
Bhattacharya said the JNUSU leaders and leaders of Left student organisations have categorically condemned certain divisive and provocative slogans that were raised on the campus, and had acted promptly to stop such sloganeering.
It is widely known that left student organisations have never supported divisive slogans or ideas, and have always worked for people’s unity, he added.
A meeting was organised on Tuesday on the JNU campus where a group of students mourned the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) co-founder Maqbool Bhat and shouted anti-India slogans.
Delhi police registered a sedition case on Thursday and arrested Kanhaiya Kumar. He was later remanded to three-days police custody on Friday.
— IANS
