Image Courtesy: business-standard.com
Post the dastardly attack by the alleged goons of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the alumni of the University gave a call for an ‘alumni march’ in solidarity with all those who were injured in the attack, and the inaction of the police and the administration in the matter.
The march was held on January 7, 2020 and saw attendance from scores of former students including former JNUSU President Sitaram Yechury who joined in to support the cause. Prakash Karat, Kanhaiya Kumar, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav and social activist Bezwada Wilson to stood in solidarity.
In their appeal for the alumni to come together to condemn the attack they had written, “This ‘Alumni March’ is in Solidarity with the Students Teachers and Karmacharis of JNU, who have been targets of unprecedented attacks on all their democratic rights from the time that the present VC was foisted upon JNU four years ago.”
They added, “These four years have seen systematic attacks on the culture of academic freedom and the traditions of debate and dissent and inclusion that were the bed-rock of the academic brilliance that JNU is recognised for. It is these values that have seen serious erosion during the tenure of the present VC and his administration.”
Condemning the attack in the most unequivocal terms and the use of armed goons brought to attack the people of JNU on January 5, 2020, they demanded the restoration of the old admission policy and the withdrawal of the fee hike, the restoration of all democratic rights and democratic institutions in the University, a judicial enquiry instituted by the MHRD to punish those responsible for the attack and the immediate removal of the present Vice Chancellor as the first step to restore normalcy in the campus.
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