The Jawahar Nehru University Students' Union is protesting and has condemned the attack on Atif Rabbani, a former JNU Student and presently a faculty member in Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur. Atif was attacked on Feb 10 by a gang of caste goons because he opposed the forcible Chanda collection by this group for Saraswati Puja.
"Goons and hooligans have been given so much free hand under the JDU-BJP raj in Bihar that they have come down to physically assaulting people in the name of Chanda Collection," said Aejaz Ahmad Rather, a PhD scholar at JNU, in one of his Facebook posts.
An FIR has already been filed against the goons who attacked Atif. The JNUSU said that they are raising their voice so that the perpetrators are brought to justice. "Let us stay vigilant so that the goons who assaulted Atif are not shielded by the police administration," Aejaz also said in his post.
A few months ago, another former JNU student named Sanjay Kumar had been attacked by a right-wing lynch mob because Sanjay denied being silenced by the VC of his university.
"It's unfortunate that from the time that the BJP government has come to power, the attacks on minorities, marginalised communities, deprived sections of the society has been increasing. We all know what happened with Sanjay when he was opposing the Sanghi VC and exposing his corruption, he was mob lynched and almost killed. Now the attack on Atif represents the same culture that if we do not agree to our ruling government's views, their culture, they are just going to kill us, as simple as that. We have been repeatedly saying that the RSS and BJP have been using the sentiments of the people for their political mileage, this is nothing but extortion in the name of religion and faith. People voluntarily, happily have been contributing to each other's festivals till now, this kind of gundagardi, vandalism, threat, was unseen in this diverse country. But to seek monopoly, to achieve their motive, the RSS and BJP have been doing this. Anyone rejecting them is considered to be a traitor or anti-national. This attack comes under the larger narrative that fall by us or we are going to kill you. We are condemning these actions and protesting against these heinous crimes," says N Sai Balaji, JNUSU President.
