NEW DELHI: A call for a protest and the administration’s response to it made Jawaharlal Nehru University look like a conflict zone on Thursday, as a heavy deployment of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) was stationed outside university.
The development took place hours before a “long march” called by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) was scheduled to begin.
Student bodies of different political denominations wanted to march against the alleged casteist remarks made by university vice chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on February 16.
The authorities choosing to use a paramilitary force, rather than the usual and singular deployment of the Delhi Police, signaled a bigger intent on their part than mere control of a law and order situation. The RAF and the Delhi Police erected large barricades at key exit points of the university campus.
Student groups have been protesting for days in favour of the enactment of University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations addressing caste-based discrimination in higher education and implementation of the proposed Rohith Vemula Act. The proposed march on Thursday was intended to be the largest of these protests. However, the authorities seemed to be fully backing Pandit.
Several JNUSU members and other students started marching in the afternoon from the Sabarmati T-point, armed only with placards, banners and slogans of social justice. As they attempted to exit the gates, a heavy contingent of the RAF and the police blocked their way, forcibly stopping them and pushing them inside parked police buses. The police later detained 51 of them.
The Delhi Police later filed an FIR under multiple sections of the BNS justified its action, stating that about 400-500 students marched out of the main gate despite request to keep the protest inside and damaged barricades.