There was high drama at Freedom Square, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), on Thursday after the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) called off the blockade of the Administration Block.
The students had been united in their protest to confine Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar and other officials to the block for over 24 hours, but the union’s decision left the student community divided.
Over 500 students, who had participated in the protest, said they felt let-down by their union leaders who had failed to inform them of the decision to call off the blockade.
Just an hour before calling off the blockade and letting the V-C walk out, the JNUSU had released a pamphlet appealing to students to gather in large numbers at Freedom Square to take the movement to find Najeeb Ahmed forward and seek justice for him with urgency.
“The administration has to answer to the students but until they do, we will sit in front of the Admin Block and wait. The administration cannot simply walk away”, the pamphlet read.
Lost steam
After an all-nigh protest, the union failed to gather in large numbers on Thursday and the demonstration lost steam. The main entrance to the Administration Block was not guarded by students in the morning. It was only when the Vice-Chancellor was being escorted out of the building that students showed up to shout slogans.
Chants of “shame, shame” drowned JNUSU president Mohit Pandey’s voice as he announced the decision to change the form of protest.
“We are not ending our protest. We are only changing our method. We will protest outside the Union Home Ministry on Friday as well as conduct a march on campus tonight,” said Mr. Pandey.
Students’ movement
Upset with having been let down by the union, students’ outfits like BAPSA and BASO gave a call to all student groups not affiliated to the JNUSU to stay united and carry the movement forward without the support of the union.
There were slogans of “get out JNUSU” and “Mohit Pandey Murdabad” as union leaders Satarupa Chakraborty, Tabrez Hassan and Amar Pullarkkat, who made attempts to explain their decision, were not allowed to speak.
Calling for a march to the Union Home Ministry at 2 p.m. on Friday, JNUSU said that all the eyewitnesses have deposed against the identified students, but all the accused are roaming free. They also claimed that the Delhi Police, like the administration, was acting on the directions of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Meanwhile, former general secretary of the JNUSU and ABVP activist Saurabh Sharma said that he received a letter by speed post in his hostel that contained a death threat and accused him of “touching a muslim boy”.
