JNU row: Congress, Left join protest

The Left leaders questioned the 'authenticity' of the controversial videotape

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, along with other political leaders, on Saturday joined the protest at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to demand the release of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on sedition charges.

"Most anti-national people are those who are suppressing the voice of students in this institution," said Gandhi.

Earlier, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday assured a delegation of Left and Janata Dal (United) leaders that "no innocents will be harassed but the guilty will not be spared" in the matter of sedition charges against students in connection with an event organised on (JNU) campus against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The leaders demanded the release of Kumar, who is a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI)'s student wing All India Students' Federation. The police detained seven other students on Saturday.

Meanwhile, videos of the protest that took place inside the JNU campus on Tuesday were posted on social media. The posts claimed the videos showed that it was the students affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who infiltrated the protesters to raise anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans. The ABVP, the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has rejected the allegations.

After meeting the home minister, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, who was joined by CPI National Secretary D Raja and JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi, said the new vice-chancellor of JNU was acting on the instructions of the government and allowed the police to go ahead with a "crackdown". "This is happening across all universities that VCs are being removed and the government is appointing persons who are acting on their instructions," Yechury said.

The Left leaders also questioned the "authenticity" of the videotape that showed anti-national slogans being raised by a group of people. "Police has released a list of 20 students, including the daughter of D Raja, who have been slapped with sedition charges without enquiry," Yechury said.

"Who can question mine or my daughter's integrity? Who can accuse us of anti-national, anti-constitutional activities? Are they mad?" said D Raja, adding that he has received calls carrying threats to his daughter.

The BJP also upped the ante on the issue. "Rahul Gandhi and his friends are speaking in the voice of terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who had tweeted in support of the anti-India event in JNU. It is an insult to our martyrs and armed forces who sacrifice their lives on the border and will boost the morale of anti-national forces," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

Reacting to the arrest of the student leader over the controversial JNU event, Rahul Gandhi had said, "The Modi government and ABVP bullying an institution like JNU simply because it won't toe their line is completely condemnable. While anti-India sentiment is unquestionably unacceptable, the right to dissent and debate is an essential ingredient of democracy."

Ex-servicemen of the 54th National Defence Academy (NDA) course, who are alumni of JNU, threatened to return their degrees. In a letter to JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar, they said they "find it difficult" to be associated with an institution that has become a "hub of anti-national activities".