This is war between two ideologies & the student community will fight back: Umar Khalid
Delhi Police trying to shield ABVP members: AAP
NEW DELHI: The unprecedented drama that unfolded in Ramjas College on Wednesday where hundreds of students, teachers and mediapersons were thrashed up badly has become a hot topic of debate and deliberation.
The person who has become the main attraction is Umar Khalid, who was invited to speak at a seminar on Tuesday. Speaking to Millennium Post exclusively, Khalid said: “ABVP does not want students to think about social issues and follow such kind of seminars because ignorance fuels their kind of politics.” A seminar on Tuesday had been cancelled after ABVP members protested against the participation of Khalid and Shehla Rashid. The talk was part of Ramjas College’s Literary Society and English department’s two-day seminar on “Cultures of Protest”. Stones were allegedly pelted at the conference room windows when organisers had tried to hold the seminar on Tuesday, without Khalid. Khalid is a student at JNU and was one of three arrested in connection with a controversial Afzal Guru event at the university in February 2016.
Condemning the incident, Khalid said that the attack was not to target him but it was an attempt to curb free speech and expression. “It is an attempt to curb the voice of every student of Delhi University.” He added: “On the second day of the seminar on Wednesday, I was there to address issues on Adivasis and raise their concerns from this platform.” He said it was the university’s duty to discuss on social issues and “it’s their work to raise these sort of discussions through such platforms” but alleged that the ABVP members never want to propagate such issues to exert their own politics.
Khalid also added: “During this seminar, panellists were about to discuss rights of the Adivasis but ABVP members did not allow that to happen. The government has asked ABVP activists to look or incapacitate such types of activities among students. Furthermore, this is a war between two ideologies and the student community will fight back.” He said the police were a mute spectator during the entire period and the only difference was that now the incident happened in DU and not in JNU. But, the principal’s statement shows there is still an element of fear or prejudice against some students from JNU or belonging to a certain ideology and it is seen as a convenient option to clamp down rather than letting free discourse take its way. NEW DELHI: The AAP on Wednesday accused the Delhi Police of shielding the ABVP members following a violent clash between the Rss-backed student’s body and Left-affiliated AISA at DU’S Ramjas College. “The Delhi Police has been trying to save the members of the ABVP,” AAP’S Delhi unit Convenor Dilip Pandey said. Violent clashes broke out between AISA and ABVP members at the college on Wednesday over a seminar invite to JNU students which left “several students and three teachers injured”. Referring to the last year’s controversy at JNU, where anti-india slogans were allegedly raised, the AAP took a jibe at the Delhi Police, saying they were not able to arrest those who gave a “cry of breaking the nation.” Pandey also demanded that the Delhi Police be made more accountable as the crime graph in the city has been on the rise. He said, instead of focusing on controlling the crime rate, the Delhi Police is busy targeting AAP leaders and its MLAS. Citing figures, Pandey claimed that 29 people have been killed in January, 283 cases of looting and 140 cases of exploitation of women have been reported. Meanwhile, according to reports, a case has been registered and around eight policemen have also suffered injuries including SHO of Maurice Nagar Arti Sharma who has suffered injury on her right ear. No arrests have been made yet.