JNU converted into 'a shelter of fundamentalists': RSS leader

Kochi, Feb 18: Amid various quarters targeting the outfit over the raging row in JNU, an RSS functionary has alleged that the agitation at the varsity was being staged by people who "are being indoctrinated and controlled from outside" and said it cannot be allowed.

The institute had been "converted into a shelter of fundamentalists, Left extremists, terrorists and casteist forces in the recent past", RSS Akhila Bharateeya Saha Prachar Pramukh J Nandakumar said in a release here. He said "mere utterances in the name of freedom of expression compromising the responsibility to the country was a meaningless act".

"Staging a farce in the name of agitation by those people who are being indoctrinated and controlled from outside the country cannot be allowed," he said. JNU students are on strike demanding release of the their Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on Friday last and charged with sedition over an event at the university during which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

Stating that the country had always given importance to freedom of expression and artistic expression, Nandakumar said "patriotic citizens of the country could never allow anyone to surrender the unity and sovereignty of the country."

He said there was no doubt that Jawaharlal Nehru University was a prestigious institution. "But it had been converted into a shelter of fundamentalists, Left extremists, terrorists and casteist forces in the recent past," he said and urged the people to cut across party, caste and religious lines to "stand united against such forces."

PTI