WATCH: ABVP Delhi Joint Secy admits its men were armed in JNU; ‘We were asked to step out with rods, acid’ 

In a shocking revelation, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Delhi joint secretary Anima Sonkar has accepted on national television that two armed men seen in viral videos with rods in the JNU campus are from the RSS-linked student union.

In a panel discussion on Times Now, Sonkar said the two men were carrying rods in “self-defence”. In order to explain the videos that surfaced following the Sunday night (January 5) attack on JNU students and teachers on campus, Anima Sonkar said they were asked on WhatsApp groups to be armed before stepping out.

“In all the WhatsApp groups, so much panic was spread... whenever you are stepping out, step out in groups, step out while you have rods... whatever you get handy, pepper spray, somebody has acid. I have not even heard or seen any case of acid attack or something (sic),” said Sonkar during the debate.

On being asked by the TV anchor whether she was admitting that the men on the video were from the ABVP, Sonkar said, “Yes, Vikas Patel is our activist. I am not disowning… It’s self-defence, complete self-defence.”

Vikas Patel is a member of the ABVP’s JNU executive committee. He has been identified in news reports as one of the men seen in the photographs taken on the campus on Sunday afternoon.

“The entire Brahmaputra Hostel was asked to be armed. Not ABVP, everyone was asked,” said Sonkar when questioned who asked them to be armed.

Anima Sonkar's statement on record contradicts the ABVP's claims that its members were not armed on campus and that the WhatsApp groups screenshots belonged to Leftist students.

On Sunday, January 5, a mob of masked men and women stormed the JNU campus in south Delhi and systematically targeted students in three hostels, unleashing mayhem with sticks, stones and iron rods, hitting inmates and breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings. They also attacked a women's hostel.

While the opposition has alleged that the mob was composed of “ABVP goons” and questioned Delhi Police’s inaction weeks after their crackdown on protesting students at Jamia Millia Islamia, the Home and HRD ministries have sought reports from the Delhi Police and JNU administration.