Students of various colleges in Bengaluru and left student organisations held a massive protest on Monday at Bengaluru’s Town Hall, condemning the violence perpetrated at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Sunday night.
The protest, which began with sloganeering by a handful of students around 10 am only grew in numbers. By 4 pm, around 1,500 people had gathered outside Town Hall and began shouting slogans for action against the masked mob, who assaulted students and teachers at JNU. JNU students allege that the mob were Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP) members.
Actor Arundathi Nag also took part in the protest, saying, “This is a big alarm bell and we have to rise against this. This will negatively impact the poorest of the poor in worse ways. We are somehow more fortunate, so today if we don’t stand up for them, then what will happen to them, the less privileged ones. I am not one of those who would usually hit the streets for political reasons, usually I choose to do my politics on the stage through my theatre. But today it’s a good (cause) and we as Indians have to wake up if our politicians want to hijack our democracy.”
“Each drop of blood is a seed for more students to rise up against tyranny,” protesters sang in a chorus. “Azadi, Azadi,” protesters shouted and called for the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Protesters held slogans which demanded Shah’s resignation and accused the Centre of turning a blind eye to the violence and vandalism allegedly perpetrated by the right-wing group.
“Don’t hurt students, we are the future of the country,” protesting students shouted repeatedly.
Following Sunday’s attack in which 28 people including JNU Student Union leader Aishe Ghosh and Professor Sucharita Sen had to be admitted in AIIMS, the JNU student union had called their V-C a “mobster who perpetuates violence in the university he is supposed to administer.