Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has stirred a controversy by accusing RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) of provoking ‘hatred and violence’ into the minds of the younger generation. The senior Congress leader also claimed that these led to the recent violence in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.
Earlier in the day, the grand old party has sought the immediate resignation of the JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar. “The VC of JNU wants students to ‘put the past behind’. He should follow his advice. He is the past. He should leave JNU,” PTI quoted P Chidambaram as saying. The party has also advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to visit universities facing unrest and listen to the youth. It claimed that there is anger in every section of society.
Congress party has also sent a four-member fact-finding team comprising All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev, party MP from Ernakulam Hibi Eden, former NSUI president of JNU unit Syed Nasser Hussain and former NSUI president and ex-president of Delhi University Students’ Union Amrita Dhawan to the university to interact with the students. The team video-graphed the statements of the students.
On Tuesday, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students. On Sunday, some masked people entered the country’s premier varsity and allegedly attacked students and faculty members on the campus including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and 35 others. The mob also damaged varsity property.
Following the incident, massive protests started across the country. In Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College, the students even boycotted classes to show solidarity with their JNU counterparts.
Meanwhile, the HRD Ministry has directed JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar to become more communicative with students, take faculty into confidence and facilitate the semester registration process.