Yesterday in the mayhem created by the mob violence at JNU, Swaraj Abhiyan chief Yogendra Yadav was also attacked by ABVP goons when he came to asess the situation.
Yogendra Yadav was outside the JNU gate along with many other students and police. He shared details of the attack on his social media account.
He was assaulted thrice on Sunday evening at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) during protests after a masked mob terrorized the campus, beating students and teachers with iron rods, leaving 34 injured.
#WATCH Swaraj Party leader Yogendra Yadav manhandled outside Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. #JNU pic.twitter.com/L9kB9W1IoR
— ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2020
“The police watched as I was kicked. I fell on a road divider on his back, he said.
The first attack was around 9:30 pm, he said, accusing the police of dragging and pushing him too. Mr Yadav said he was attacked for the second time at 10:50 pm. The third assault, he claimed, was around 12:30 am, at the AIIMS hospital, where injured students were taken after the mob attack. He alleged that he was pushed by the police in the presence of a senior officer despite the fact that he was there as a patient. He further added that he was with (CPI leader) D Raja when 20-30 goons attacked him, kept abusing, shoving, hitting him. He fell on his back on the road divider (soft tissue injury, no fracture), then kicked in his face (eye bruise). Police simply watched everything. DCP came later.
Yogendra Yadav accused the Vice-Chancellor of JNU, M Jagadesh Kumar has presided over the intellectual as well as physical destruction of the university.
“Outside Trauma Centre, AIIMS. When I arrived for check-up and MLC, outside emergency, Inspector Shiv raj hit my colleague Raja and my driver and then pushed me (in the presence of ADCP Parvinder Singh) despite knowing I was a patient,” Mr Yadav said.
Police Inaction
Alleging that police personnel were mere spectators, the activist said, “If the police is afraid, they can take out their uniform”. Yadav said that it was not spontaneous but a well-planned attack as the “viral screenshots of WhatsApp group ‘Friends of RSS’ showed members planned to assemble outside JNU”.
— JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) January 5, 2020
Eyewitness accounts say that around 50 goons entered the campus around 6.30 pm on Sunday. The students’ union tweeted that the attackers were “unknown ABVP goons” and were even beating up professors trying to protect students.
Many students allege that the police personnel deployed on the campus were standing instead of controlling the situation.
JNUSU vice-president Saket Moon said, “The police have been in the campus since afternoon, but they have done nothing”. Others pointed to the delay in calling in the police and their failure to make any arrest.
Police blocked the roads leading to JNU so many students and well wishers could not reach the location.
Masked goons also attacked the ambulance that was going inside the campus to help the injured.
Aaj Tak journalist Ashutosh Mishra had been beaten up brutally by the goons. The reporter and cameraman were heckled between the violence.
Protests happened at midnight at many places in India
Students and teachers reached ITO, Delhi police headquarters. Many students and teachers from jamia also joined in solidarity and held a demonstration demanding answers from the Delhi police.
Protests at Aligarh Muslim University against violence on JNU students earlier today:
AMU students hold solidarity protest for JNU students. Teachers association issues a statement condemning the barbaric act demand intervention of CJI. #JNUViolence pic.twitter.com/47b3reLbjN
— Marya Shakil (@maryashakil) January 5, 2020
FTII Students Protest
Students of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune on late Sunday night staged a protest condemning the attack on students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. They held a demonstration outside the gate of the premier film institute, holding banners with message “FTII stands with JNU, condemns the violence of ABVP Goons”.
Protest at the Gateway of India (Mumbai)
Students from various colleges in Mumbai joined the protest at the Gateway of India in Mumbai today morning to condemn the violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. The students shouted slogans condemning the violence.
Mumbai: Students from different colleges gather outside Gateway of India to protest against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University earlier today. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/6XL5Sqk425
— ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2020
Protest in Kolkata
Students of Kolkata’s Jadavpur University began their protest today morning. Slogans and chants against the violence perpetrated against students and faculty of JNU were heard in visuals shared on social media.
Students of Kolkata's Jadavpur university begin their protest in solidarity with JNU
Students and well minded citizens are out on the streets, but not a word from our Fuhrer and Goebbels yet..#BanABVP #StudentsMovement#StudentPowerpic.twitter.com/0BaS1hIncf
— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) January 5, 2020
Protest in Kerala
In Kerala, members of the SFI’s state unit marched till the Accountant General’s Office in Thiruvananthapuram. “From the beginning, the [Narendra] Modi government from the beginning has been trying to destroy educational institutions in our country,” said VA Vineesh, the SFI state president. “They are saffronising and capitalising the education sector. But we won’t bend to this, we will ideologically oppose their attempt to destroy us with weapons.”
