Even as several Opposition parties and Left-backed organizations blamed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the violence in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the BJP defended the students’ body.
Since Sunday evening, when hoodlums attacked students of the varsity, BJP’s IT wing released videos and pictured of what they claimed was attack by Left wing organizations on ABVP students.
“There is a motley group of Left leaning activists drawn from art, literature and Bollywoood, lapsed academicians and failed politicians, who can’t win a municipal poll but are ideological mercenaries. Backed by Opposition parties, they are the ones fomenting trouble on campuses,” tweeted BJP IT cell’s Amit Malviya.
On Sunday, Malviya had put out several videos of injured students claiming that many from the ABVP had been targeted in the attack. He had also questioned the presence of Opposition leaders at the campus shortly after the incident.
“How come some Left activists who are neither students nor professors of JNU always land up at the campus every time violence breaks out?,” Malviya said in a tweet on Sunday
The official Twitter handle of the BJP also blamed the attack on what it called the “forces of anarchy”.
“We strongly condemn the violence on JNU campus. This is a desperate attempt by forces of anarchy, who are determined to use students as cannon fodder, create unrest to shore up their shrinking political footprint. Universities should remain places of learning and education,” the BJP’s official Twitter handle said.
Senior BJP leader and party general secretary Muralidhar Rao defended the ABVP on charges of violence.
“Both the BJP and the ABVP are ideological organizations that are committed to democratic discourse. They will never indulge or initiate any violence,” Rao said.
Several BJP sympathisers made hashtag #LeftAttacksJNU trend on social media and claimed that an attempt to create a false narrative was being made.
“We have videos to prove that JNUSU members were beating up students and preventing them from registering for exams. They are creating a fake narrative. The protest started as a demand for fee roll back, that happened and now they don’t want any academic activity on the campus. They are trying to create a Jan Andolan, but if they don’t want to sit for exams, how can they prevent others too?” said ABVP’s national media convenor Rahul Chaudhary.
Significantly, the violence in JNU has come at a time when the Delhi Assembly Elections are round the corner. They also come in the aftermath of the police action in Jamia Millia Islamia where those protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act were lathicharged.
The chief of Delhi BJP Manoj Tiwari claimed that the disappointment of those who were rejected by the people in general elections was coming to the fore in the form of violence on campuses.
He demanded a free and fair inquiry and strict punishment for the culprits.
