For the right-leaning students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the ruckus in front of the Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar's residence on Monday night wasn't surprising. They allege that the left-leaning students always operate this way and the alleged confining of Mamidala's wife Lakshmi inside their house was bound to happen. While JNUSU members maintained that they marched to the VC's residence and merely demanded a meeting with him, the ABVP has been circulating videos that show students gheraoing the VC's house while security barricade it from within to try and keep them out.
"The JNUSU and the left organisations always start out protests and events labelling them 'peaceful', but they end up creating violence. There is nothing new about it," says Nidhi Tripathi, the ABVP National General Secretary, who is a PhD scholar in JNU. "All these left activists, including the JNUSU members knew that the VC wasn't home. Even after the guards had tried to stop them, they barged into the premises and broke the lock. They even attempted to jump the compound wall," she says. "Most of the students who were at the Vice Chancellor's residence yesterday are freshers. Many of them are SFI activists from Kerala, who are trying to spread Naxalism in the university," she alleges.
Eleven JNU students have been on an indefinite hunger strike against the VC for over a week now. The VC hasn't spoken to them nor acknowledged their protest, which is why they decided to march to his residence on Monday night. The VC was out, but his wife was stuck at home and terrified after the whole affair. After pardoning his students for allegedly breaking into his residence, Mamidala tweeted thanking the 'marvellous people' of JNU, who took his wife to the hospital. "It was the wives of JNU faculty members who rescued my wife with the help of security guards and took her to hospital. Grateful to them for their kindness," Mamidala tweeted.
Nidhi tells us that around 16 to 17 people, which included the non-teaching staff and wives of a few faculty members, along with the security guards valorously took the Vice Chancellor's wife to the hospital. "These wonderful women knew the trouble another woman had to go through. One can imagine how scared she would have been at that situation," says Nidhi. She said that she'd met a few of these women at the university's health centre.
Nidhi doesn't forget to blame the JNU Teachers' Association for not reaching out to help the VC's wife. "The JNUTA is in support of the protestors. They are to be blamed for escalating the issue," she says.
Raghavendra Mishra, another JNU student, popularly known as the 'Yogiji of JNU' stepped up to tell us about what the 'communists' in the university like to do. "They always create trouble, shoot videos of their violent activities and circulate them. They love to do it. They should not be called students at all," he says.
