VHP holds Ram Mandir rally in JNU

A day ahead of the 26th anniversary of Babri mosque demolition, the students and faculty members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were in for a shock on Wednesday, December 5, morning as scores of Hindutva activists thronged the varsity and took out a rally on the campus.

The activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, held a rally, Shri Ram Mandir Sankalp Rath Yatra, in the university. The procession comprising cars, two-wheelers and open trucks took a round of the campus and sought support for the upcoming VHP event, “Dharam Sansad” (congregation of Hindu priests), at the Ramlila Ground in the national capital on December 9.

The Dharam Sansad aims at building pressure on Modi government to facilitate an early building of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. It is scheduled to be held two days before the start of the crucial winter session of the Parliament.

Waiving saffron flags, the activists shouted pro-temple slogans such as “Ram Lalla aayenge, mandir bhavya banayenge” (Ram will come, grand temple will be built) as the loud speakers fitted on vehicles blared bhajans.

The varsity administration, however, feigned ignorance over the incident. “We’re not aware of any such procession carried out by the VHP. Since I was busy with the board of studies meeting…I’ll check with the campus security,” said Pramod Kumar, Registrar of the university.

Hitting out at the varsity administration, N Sai Balaji, JNU students' union president told the National Herald that “Registrar’s ignorance is shameful.” Claiming that he has filed a police complaint against unknown Hindutva activists, Balaji further stated, “How did they enter from the Saraswatipuram gate? The security office claims that it is unaware of the incident but it’s just not possible without the connivance of varsity administration.”

Balaji accused the vice chancellor of JNU, M Jagadesh Kumar of the patronising a particular political party on the campus. The Ram Mandir rally in the campus has exposed the VC, he asserted.

“Whenever the students have to hold a demonstration over a genuine issue, there is invariably a mass mobilisation of security forces,” he said, wondering, “How come the security office didn’t call up the police this morning?”

“A group of outsiders in trucks, cars and motorcycles illegally entered JNU campus forcing themselves through Saraswatipuram gate between 9 am to 10 am,” the complaint filed by the students’ body read, asking, “How can a mob throng a university and spew communal venom to vitiate it’s peaceful atmosphere.”

The students’ body has also urged the VC to initiate action against both the G4S security agency which is mandated with JNU’s security and Chief Security Officer of the varsity.

Aejaz Ahmad Rather, general secretary of the student’s body, described the development as “extremely shocking”. Talking to National Herald, he said: “It is the same university administration which does not hesitate a moment to suppress dissent by cancelling programmes and public meetings. But they allowed the rabble-rousing religious bigots—who are hell-bent upon destroying the secular fabric of this country—to hold a rally on the campus.”

“A day earlier, the varsity administration employed over 50 guards to stop the democratically elected student councillors from attending the Board of Studies in School of Social Sciences,” he rued and decried, “But today, the helped RSS to turn campus into it’s own fiefdom.”

He further said: “If any untoward incident happens on the campus or a student or anyone for that matter, gets harmed, university administration shall be held responsible for it.”

“This is cruel joke on the spirit of institutions of the highest learning. The procession was aimed at inciting violence in the university which is going to celebrate Ambedkar anniversary tomorrow,” Prem Mishra, a PhD scholar at Centre for West Asian Studies in the School of International Studies maintained, demanding that “the VC must be held accountable and be sacked without any delay.”