A group of 688 law students from National Law Universities across the country has released a solidarity statement with the government of India, condemning the clash between 'malicious attacks and the sinister plot of breaking India forces to malign India'. The incidents referred are the farmers' protest, tweets of global figures condemning the farm laws and the clash between the farmers and protestors on January 26.
Calling out the alleged contradictory stands of a few politicians, the statement reads, "Certain groups have been expressing their displeasure about the farm laws passed last year by the Parliament and have been organising various forms of protests for the past few months majorly in and around the states of Punjab and Haryana. Ironically, few leaders in the protest had demanded the same measures for agricultural reforms they are opposing now. Added to this is the fact that some of them even welcomed these same laws when they were passed as Ordinances in the previous year," reads the statement.
The students, in their strongly-worded statement, call the events "an attack on Indian democracy and ethos". "We welcome the decision of groups who called for withdrawing from the protests given the 26th January violence and insult to the National Flag. We support lawful actions being adopted by the Government of India and our police personnel to protect the people and the nation," it reads.
Aditya Kashyap, one of the signatories of the statement says that the signatures were collected in a span of two days. "This is not politically motivated. We saw certain forces trying to tarnish the image of India and we wanted to raise our voice against it," he says, mentioning singer Rihanna's and climate activist Greta's tweets supporting the farmers. The statement asks the protestors to abandon violent protests and the government to take appropriate actions soon.
