Waquar Hasan, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, March 27: Hundreds of students and social activists held a protest demonstration here on Sunday against the police crackdown on students of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and sought ouster of Appa Rao, Vice Chancellor of the university. Chanting slogans against the Narendra Modi government and Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, the protesters demanded release of all the arrested students of HCU.
Since January 17 when Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide at a hostel of the university in Hyderabad, there have been protest demonstrations against the VC and administration. After a long leave, the VC joined office this past Tuesday (22nd March) but a number of students protested against him and reportedly vandalized his office. Later the police took strong action against the students and arrested around 30 of them besides two faculty members. They all are in jail.
The Delhi march was organized for restoration of normalcy and campus democracy at Hyderabad University. It was jointly organized by Students Islamic Organisation of India, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Welfare Party of India, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat and Association for Protection of Civil Rights.
Besides representatives from these organizations, eminent personalities from different walks of life also took part in the protest.
Prof. Anand Kumar, one of founders of Swaraj Abhiyan and former AAP leader
Criticizing the behavior of the government regarding students, Anand Kumar, former Aam Aadmi Party leader and founder member of Sawraj Abhiyan, said, “As a citizen of the country with 25 year experience as a teacher, I feel that the government of the country is confronting with the students on wrong issues. It should congratulate to the Indian youth that they are uniting on educational questions. Going beyond the circle of the caste, religion, region and language, they are fighting for betterment of education of the country. But the government is beating them up and expelling them on false allegations. I don’t know why? The university which should be for study, now there is hooliganism of police,” he said.
Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi, eminent human rights activist in Varanasi
Eminent social activist Lenin Raghuvanshi Lenin, who is general secretary of People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rightsi, said, “This government is trying to run the country on the basis of RSS which was formed on the basis of Manusmriti in 1925 rather than the constitution. The freedom which we snatched from the British is being seized from us by those who had allied with the British. The universities are being attacked because they are the centre of that freedom”.
Iqbal Hussain, National President of SIO
Criticizing the anti-student policy of the government, Iqbal Hussain, National President, Students Islamic Organisation of India, said, “There is a kind of undeclared emergency across all universities of the country. The government or MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) is trying to curb the voice of students rising against the anti-people policy of the government. The atmosphere of fear is being created there. We saw all this in JNU, HCU and FTII”.
Siraj Talib, Delhi president of Welfare Party
Delhi president of Welfare Party Siraj Talib said, “The kind of atmosphere prevailing in the country is affecting not only students but also all sections of the society. Since BJP came to power, it is trying to crush all the voices being raised against it.”
