University student union leaders in the forefront of a standoff with the BJP government at the Centre today stressed on a "united struggle" with JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, dubbing the issue as one between "Sanghistan and Hindustan".
The plea for a united front, "keeping differences alive" and the need to break out of "seminars" found resonance in the voices of Kanhaiya of AISF, JNU student leaders Shehla Rashid Shora of AISA, Umar Khalid, a former DSU leader, Allahabad University union president Richa Singh at an event here.
A close friend of Rohit Vemula, Hyderabad University student D Prashanth of Ambedkar Students' Association was also present at the event "Pratirodh 2" that saw pro-Left student leaders ranging from moderate to radical camps sharing a common platform.
Richa set the tone by pointing to the need to come together, despite "ideological differences", saying that the theme of resistance should be common across all universities.
Addressing the leftist intellectuals in the gathering, Kanhaiya said that he has a "complaint" against the older generation for having "widened the differences" to an extent that "we are having a tough time" trying to bring unity.
"If you would have done this, then uniting Gandhi and Ambedkar would not have been so tough for us. Why don't we stand together with both against RSS violence? We will have to take our fight out of seminar halls to our villages. We will have to reject binaries," he said.
Condemning the violence in NIT Srinagar, Kanhaiya said a "war" unleashed inside campuses is against democracy and alleged that the campuses are being turned into "battlefields".
"I condemn the violence in Srinagar and the violence in HCU because this is institutional violence and it is dangerous for democracy," he said.
Shehla noted that the political groupings normally stress on the need for coming together while "keeping our differences aside". "Let's say keeping our differences alive, let's get together to defeat them. We celebrate this political diversity.
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Later, talking to reporters on the Supreme Court's recent verdict on land acquisition in Singur by the then Left-led West Bengal government, the student leader said it was "wrong" to take away land from farmers without their consent.
"I am not totally against land acquisition as industry will not come up otherwise. But, without the farmers' consent, their land should not be taken," Kumar said.
Asked if he would extend support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her movement at Singur, Kumar said, "I do not support any particular person."
"No single person can own a revolution or a movement. Only people have the ownership, not a leader or an individual. Changes in the society are brought about through a collective effort and thus, I do not support a particular individual," he explained.
A movement spearheaded by the Trinamool Congress against "forcible acquisition of land in Singur by the erstwhile Left Front government" led the Tata group to shift their small car project to Sanand in Gujarat.
Speaking about the declining support for the Left movement in the country, Kumar said the Left parties would have to be in the "midst of movements" and have to "involve the people".
