KOLKATA: Leaders of the Left Front, Congress and some leading citizens on Monday took to the streets here in support of the agitating students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and demanded immediate release of its students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar. They marched from College Square opposite Calcutta University to the heart of the city under the banner: “Democratic Forum against Suppression — Kolkata marches for JNU”.
They shouted slogans against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and condemned the RSS too. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Rhitobrata Banerjee said, “There is an undeclared emergency in the country. Any voice of dissent is being suppressed by force and using the state machinery at the behest of the RSS.” State Congress spokesman Omprakash Mishra said, “We want the release of JNU students’ union president who has been booked on false charges which are serious. This is not a question of Left and Congress coming together but we are protesting against attacks on democracy both in other parts of the country and in West Bengal.”