As violence hit the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Sunday evening, the students and eyewitnesses said that at least 50 people, allegedly from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) went on a rampage attacking students and professors with lathis and rods. However, the ABVP, denying all the allegations have claimed that their members were brutally attacked by students affiliated to leftist student organisations SFI, AISA and DSF.
Ashutosh Singh, State Media in-charge, ABVP Delhi, said, "Around 25 students have been seriously injured in this attack and there is no information as to the whereabouts of 11 students. Many ABVP members were being attacked in hostels and the hostels are being vandalised by the leftist goons."Why did the VC not allow the police inside for so long? Giving the miscreants the opportunity to leave after the vandalism," he asked.
The ABVP also alleged that some people belonging to the left-leaning organisations beat up the students who went for their semester registrations. "The JNU students affiliated to ABVP were brutally attacked. The Secretary of ABVP JNU unit and ABVP's JNUSU Presidential candidate for this year Manish Jangid is severely injured and his hand is fractured. Many students have suffered head injuries and a few students are still missing," added Ashutosh. Durgesh Kumar, President, ABVP JNU unit, also alleged that some got inside the Periyar and Sabarmati hostels and beat up the ABVP members.
However, the JNUSU has alleged that these attacks were conducted by the ABVP and that they were pre-planned. Several screenshots from namely two WhatsApp groups — RSS Ke Friends and Unity against Left — are being shared widely on social media that show texts by alleged members of the ABVP planning the attacks.
The ABVP has denied these allegations saying, "The WhatsApp group screenshots being circulated are fake. ABVP neither recognises any such group nor is it accountable for it. No members of ABVP JNU can be seen in the 'alleged' screenshot either. This has been the old strategy of the Left group to share screenshots of fake groups."
The JNU students have been protesting against the fee hike and the draft hostel manual for nearly 70 days now. The JNUSU and the Jamia Coordination Committee (a body of students formed after the police brutality in Jamia Millia Islamia on December 15) have appealed everyone to assemble in front of the Delhi Police Headquarters in order to stop the reign of terror inside the campus.
