Saffron assault on Kashmiri students in JNU.

By Sumati Panikkar,Uma Katju and Karthick,

New Delhi : The right-wing Hindutva brigade has displayed its fascist colors time and again by indulging in murderous acts of violence, propagating false history, suppressing the religious minorities and oppressing nationalities everywhere.

In universities, its trusted student wing Akhil Bhartiya Viddhyarthi Parishad, (ABVP)carries out the same agenda. This time in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), ABVP tried to indulge in fascist propaganda as well as open hooliganism on the question of state repression in Kashmir.

JNU is known for its vibrant culture of debate and free speech,an anathema for ABVP.
Photo by Md.Ali,TCN

Presenting distorted history of J&K

On 28th August 2010, ABVP organized a public meeting on Kashmir and invited one of the Sangh’s most rabid and fascist faces, Tarun Vijay, former editor of the RSS’s mouthpiece Panchajanya as one of the two speakers.The speakers were presenting a completely false and distorted history of Kashmir. According to the ABVP version,Alexander was a Muslim king who in some unknown century forcibly converted Kashmiri Hindus to Islam.

Silent protest met with verbal and physical abuse

When some of the Kashmiri students who attended the meeting objected, they were violently pushed out of the mess, and verbally abused not only by the ABVP cadre but also by the speaker himself.

They were threatened that they would be beaten and thrown out of the room if they didn’t “shut up”. Some of the Kashmiri girl students were also abused and pushed by these goons in a very shameful manner.

When Kashmiris demand azadi, they are condemned as “terrorists.” So too at the public meeting the Kashmiri students raised slogans of azadi, and in response Tarun Vijay called them “Osama bin laden ke dalal.”

Repeated assault on Kashmiri struggle

Why is it that the Kashmiri struggle is met with such barefaced violence from the state, from the army, from civil society and from the right-wing? On our campus, we have seen this repeatedly—last month, posters in favor of the Kashmiri struggle for freedom, put up by a student group, the Delhi Tamil Students’ Union, were torn and burnt all over campus, under the supervision of JNU authorities.

The right wing took out a rally hailing the violence of the security forces in Kashmir, and
abusing the common people of the valley who are bravely fighting against occupation.

Objectionable posters saying “doodh maango toh kheer denge,Kashmir maango toh cheer denge” were seen on campus.

Why this silence?

As common students, we urge you to ask the question—why are we silent today? The Kashmiri students expressed their right to dissent on the night of 28th August and the right wing hooligans openly assaulted them, while the rest of our student community stood as mute spectators.

These problematic equations made by the right-wing, the Indian media and even the parliamentary left, maligning the Kashmiri struggle (more than sixty years old) as “Islamic fundamentalist” and “terrorist” need to be strongly contested.

We understand and reject the politics in which peoples’ demands and grievances are labelled “terrorist” to delegitimize their just struggles. The portrayal of the Kashmiri
struggle in religious overtones is nothing but a strategy of the reactionaries who themselves would like to bank on Hindu chauvinism.

We want to register our strong protest against this fascist assault on the Kashmiri students who objected at the right-wing’s vicious propaganda against the movement in Kashmir.

We extend our support to the brave people of the valley who are being brutally killed and
murdered as we speak, but who continue to fight against the violent occupation by the Indian authorities. Their only weapons are their stones, their voices and their willpower.

Appeal to the JNU community

We appeal to the progressive sections of the JNU community to break their silence and join us, against the open violation of all democratic norms time and again by the ABVP,and in supporting the Kashmiri people, fighting for their right to self-determination against one of the most powerful and militarized states of the world.

Sumati Panikkar and Uma Katju are researchers in the Centre for Political Studies, JNU.Karthick is doing MA from the Center for Historical Studies, JNU. (This article is an edited version of a pamphlet which was circulated in JNU and was signed by many students.)