Social activist Teesta Setalvad today accused the Centre of trying to cut down on student scholarships, as it is "afraid" of questions that the student community is raising against the government.
Setalvad, while addressing a program on 'freedom of speech' here, said students are leading a fightback by occupying the space of an opposition.
"What is happening in all our Central universities today is that the real fighbacks are coming from the young students who are capturing the opposition space by challenging an extremely hegemonic government," she said.
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She said the Centre is trying to curb such voices by slashing student scholarships "so that there is no second Rohit Vemula or Kanhaiya Kumar".
While underlining that the "freedom of speech" and the "independence of media" is under threat, the activist said right-wing forces want to instill a fear of death.
"The killing of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, (M M) Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh is an example, how voices of dissent are being silenced.
"These people asked serious questions to the established hegemonical order and that is something which was not palatable to the forces that govern us today," she alleged.
While speaking on the occasion, Megha Pansare, the daughter-in-law of Govind Pansare, said the struggle to punish the killers of Pansare, Kalburgi and Dabholkar is still on.
"Every month, we have been organising protests, seminars and silent marches for the sake of justice," she said.
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