A delegation of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) met with the varsity's Vice-Chancellor Prof Santishree Pandit to discuss the events of April 10, where violence broke out in the Kaveri Hostel on campus on the occasion of Ram Navami.
The President of the JNUSU, Aishe Ghosh, said that the VC was asked to meet with the victims of the violence at the earliest. "We believe that she should have met them on the first day itself," added Ghosh. The delegation also condemned the press statement released by the Registrar's office after the violence. Calling the statement "biased", Ghosh said, "The statement repeated the version of events shared by the ABVP. It was openly biased. We have demanded that the statement be revoked, but we don't think they will do that."
The JNUSU also asserted that the violence began when the vendor who came to supply chicken to the Kaveri Hostel mess was stopped. "We have asked why the administration did not take action at that time," said Ghosh.
It was also brought to the Vice-Chancellor's attention that a student was threatened inside the reading room at the School of International Studies on the night of Wednesday, April 13. "Students are being identified and threatened. The administration said that steps will be taken to ensure that no such thing happens," she added.
The Left-backed students' groups have claimed that it was the students from the ABVP who took objection to the hostel mess serving non-vegetarian food on Ram Navami and instigated the violence that shook the campus on April 10. On the other hand, the ABVP students claimed that the Left-backed student groups couldn't "tolerate the havan that was being conducted on the occasion".
"We believe we have to sustain and intensify our protest against the violence. Otherwise, they will treat it as an isolated incident and the students who were attacked that day will be left to deal with the memory of it, and the student body as a whole will not be able to connect with it," said Ghosh.
