#StandWithJNU reaches Bengaluru; student activists attack Modi govt

Bengaluru, Mar 12: The ongoing controversy surrounding the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is far from over.

In fact, the student leaders of the university have embarked on a nationwide campaign to reach out to the youth and the common man to address the various social and political issues plaguing the nation.

Moreover, the student activists also want to tell everyone that the students and the teachers of the university are not anti-national, and a huge smear campaign has been launched by the right wing group to malign JNU.

The campaign reached Bengaluru on Friday (March 11), when Shehla Rashid, vice-president, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), and her friends addressed students and journalists in the city.

#StandWithJNU, the popular social media hashtag, in support of the students and the teachers of the university, has found enough support from the people of Bengaluru.

Talking about the storm brewing on the university campus since February 9, after allegedly anti-national slogans were raised by JNU students, Shehla cleared various misconceptions about the university and its students.

The young activist told students at St. Joseph's College in the city that distorted version of the February 9 incident on the JNU campus was being circulated across the nation.

"JNU is not just a university but also a metaphor for women's freedom, an unending quest for social justice, and for a world without discrimination," she said.

Questioning validity of draconian laws like Sedition Act, Shehla asked, "Do we need a black law like the one on sedition, or a progressive act like the Rohith act?"

"If people were to be put in jail for raising slogans, then many from the ABVP would be too," she said.

Following the alleged anti-national slogan shouting by JNU students, the president of JNUSU Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition charges, but later released on bail.

She also attacked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government during her interaction with the journalists.
"We have a government that is anti-poor, anti-Dalit, anti-student and anti-thinking. We will expose them," she said.

OneIndia News