BAPSA’s president Om Prakash Mahato, a Ph.D. scholar from the Centre for Political Studies, and other activists were beaten up by ABVP goons (15 in number), at Godavari Dhaba at JNU around 1. 30 PM while putting up posters on the eve of Kanshiram Jayanti.
This kind of attack by ABVP has been frequently witnessed on the Delhi University and JNU campuses especially on students coming from marginalised sections.
In an interview with Dalit Camera the BAPSA president Om Prakash Mahato says-, ‘If we celebrate our icons, Kanshiram, Phule, Ambedkar they come to hit us and disrupt our programs. Tomorrow’s Kanshiram Jayanti will be observed at Sabarmati Dhaba without fail’, Om Prakash Mahato, 3rd year Ph.D. scholar, JNU.
Condemn the attack by ABVP on BAPSA activists in JNU while they were preparing for the occasion of Manyavar Kanshiram's birth anniversary. Rise in rage!
— Damni Kain (@DamniKain) March 14, 2021
BAPSA has released a statement condemning the attack on the BAPSA president and demanded the JNU administration and Student unions take action against the ABVP hooliganism in the JNU campus.
According to the pamphlet, the violence was in response to BAPSA celebrating assertive, anti-caste thinkers like Kanshiram. The assertive anti-caste politics of BAPSA poses a strong challenge to Brahmanical forces which ABVP goons cannot digest. The recent act of violence highlights the Manuwadi mentality of the ABVP as they threw casteist slurs to the BAPSA students.
BAPSA has also accused the University administration of backing such attacks. The administration which is quick to slap fines and proctorial inquiries, harass and intimidate students refuses to take any action despite recurrent violence by the ABVP.
So far. multiple FIRs have been filed against ABVP goondas but the police haven’t taken any concrete action.
BAPSA has laid out certain demands-
- We demand that the administration declares the perpetrators out of bounds of the campus to allow students coming from marginalised backgrounds to continue their academics in peace and without any threat.
- The Cyclops security which has been acting as the private militia of the ABVP should be removed for their utter incompetence and refusal to act against these hooligans.
