RGU students protest against CAA, extend solidarity to JNU

RONO HILLS, Jan 8: The Rajiv Gandhi University Students’ Union (RGUSU) staged a sit-in protest at the union’s office here on Wednesday to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the recent attack on students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
Many of the students were seen holding posters declaring ‘Anti-fascist territory’, ‘Smash fascism’, ‘RGU against CAA, NRC’, etc, during the sit-in.
RGUSU president Dopum Sonam said the protest was also called in support of the nationwide strike called by the central trade unions against “the anti-people policies.”
He said the RGUSU extends full solidarity to the students and teachers protesting at JNU.
“We don’t enjoy protesting, but we are left with no other option. We condemn the JNU administration for the lackadaisical attitude towards the JNU Students’ Union’s demands,” he added.
On the CAA and the NRC, Sonam said they are “totally unwanted.” The university’s students have always opposed it and will continue to do so, he said.
Sonam also challenged Lok Sabha members Kiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao to an open debate on “the rising atrocities, including CAA.”
He informed that the union will organise a ‘cultural protest’ at the IG Park tennis court in the days to come, and challenged the two MPs to “speak before the public, or else resign from their posts.”
RGU Research Scholars’ Forum (RGURSF) general secretary Prem Taba said, “We are extremely anguished by the brutal violence at JNU. It is terrifying and a potential threat to the country’s students.”
The JNU authorities and the Delhi police were inactive when masked goons entered the heavily guarded campus on Sunday and unleashed brutality.
Taba said students across India are boycotting classes and coming out to the streets to observe the nationwide strike “in protest against campus violence, CAA, NRC and attack on free speech and civil rights.”
On union Home Minister Amit Shah’s “understand the chronology” remark over the NRC and the CAA, Taba said the BJP government has “lack of interest and vision” for the indigenous minorities of Arunachal and the Northeast.
“Understand the chronology… First, they will take all your money through demonetization. Then they will ask you to pay tax through GST. Then they will dump refugees into your land through CAA. Then they will ask you to prove your citizenship through NRC,” Taba said.
Former RGUSU GS Vikash Dada and RGURSF AGS Babu Jyoti Ghosh were among others who spoke on the occasion.
The students also burned effigies of Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NRC, and CAA.
The students of the NERIST also took out a protest rally in its campus to observe the strike.