The 5th of January, 2019, will be remembered as one of the darkest nights in the history of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. On Sunday evening, the event that unfolded at JNU shocked the whole nation. A masked mob brutally attacked students and teachers inside the campus. The president of the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), Aishe Ghosh, was badly beaten up. The JNUSU has alleged that the attackers were goons of the ABVP, the student body of the BJP and the RSS. On the other hand, the ABVP has alleged that left-backed student bodies were behind the violence. Now it is for Delhi police to probe and find out the truth.
However, the students and teachers of JNU alleged that the Delhi police connived with the masked goons to unleash violence on them. Therefore one cannot expect a fair probe by the Delhi police in such situation. Whatever political ideology one professes, no one should encourage the kind of violence that JNU witnessed on Sunday. The images of bloodied faces of students and teachers are haunting the whole nation. Ever since the BJP government came to power at the Centre, it has been making renewed attempts to silence the students of JNU. Its attempt to degenerate JNU and its rich legacy is appalling. Instead of attempting to construct world-class universities in the country, the regressive BJP government is trying every method to close down one of the most famous universities of India. The saffron party should end its wrongful attempt to close down JNU. By unleashing violence on students, they are committing a grave mistake. First they targeted Jamia, then Aligarh Muslim University, and now JNU. The BJP government should stop treating students like criminals. They are the future of the nation, and the government should listen to their grievances.