Amid heavy security, the protesting students were joined by teachers, both from DU and JNU, at Khalsa College, from where they started their "March against Gundagardi" at around 12:45 pm to DU's Arts faculty, where the march was supposed to culminate.
Slogans like "Vaad Vivad ki azadi, lathi patthar khoon nahi" and "DU humara hai, gundon ki jaageer nahi" thundered across the Delhi University (DU) campus on Tuesday, as thousands of students along with those from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia and Ambedkar University came together for a protest march against the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for allegedly propagating "hooliganism" and "violence" on the campus.
Amid heavy security, the protesting students were joined by teachers, both from DU and JNU, at Khalsa College, from where they started their "March against Gundagardi" at around 12:45 pm to DU's Arts faculty, where the march was supposed to culminate.
Despite the fact that the protest march was called by the Left-backed All India Students Association (AISA), many students who were taking part in the protest stated that their aims were apolitical. "We are not here to support any political group or ideology, we are here to reclaim our campus spaces where we have freedom of speech and expression," said Simran Verma, a student of Ramjas college. Others agreed. "Our movement is not about Left or Right ideologies, it's about students' rights. We won't let the ABVP rob our right to dissent, to express and to love at our own campus," said another student from Delhi College of Economics who did not want to be named.
But while students professed no ideology, they said they had to come out to protest the growing violence that has hurt the name of DU.
"We all have come together at a time when things have turned really ugly at our campus. Today's students are having to use their books to save their heads from stones and lathis instead of studies," said Siraj Sharma, a student of Kirori Mal College.
As the march reached the Arts faculty, student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was taking part in the event, raised slogans against ABVP. Kumar was accompanied by Anirban Bhattacharya. The duo had been arrested last year under sedition charges along with controversial student leader Umar Khalid.
Speaking the event, Kanhaiya Kumar attacked ABVP for enforcing their "right" ideology on everyone. "There should be room for discussion and debate. We are inviting them to come and debate with us if they have something to say to justify the violence they had perpetrated in DU campus on February 23," he said. Some ABVP members tried to disrupt Kumar's address but they were thwarted by the police and were not allowed to come near the protest site.
Apart from the student leader, students were also addressed by political leaders which included Swaraj India's Yogendra Yadav, AAP's Pankaj Pushkar, CPI (M) Sitaram Yechury and CPI's D Raja among others. Like Kumar, Left leader Sitaram Yechury also attacked ABVP for perpetrating violence in the name of "nationalism." "Their definition of nationalism is worn. They define it in terms of Hinduism only."
During the protest, some students alleged that the "Leftists" and politicians present there were trying to hijack their event. "This is a student protest. We don't want it to give any left or right colour or any political ideology. We want to it to be a normal student protest for reclaiming our freedom of speech and expression," said a Ramjas college student, who wished to remain anonymous.
Later in the day on Tuesday, ABVP claimed that the recent violence at DU's Ramjas college was provoked by "outsiders" and the blame had been put on them by the "anti-nationals". They also announced they would organise a protest on March 2 against the entry of outsiders on campus.
Students from several universities— DU, JNU, Jamia Millia and Ambedkar University—announced a march to Parliament on March 4 against ABVP's hooliganism at DU campus.
The protest follow an incident on February 23, where hundreds of students associated with AISA and RSS-backed ABVP had attacked each other , causing serious injuries to many. The clashes followed the cancellation of an invitation to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora, after ABVP objected to the invite. The students at the march, however, alleged that the incident was a one sided attack by ABVP not a "clash.".
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