Jamia Millia Islamia students protest against RSS event on campus
New Delhi : Students of Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi staged a protest on the campus, opposing a programme marking 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
According to Kashmir Media Service, the RSS-linked event, held as part of the ‘Yuva Kumbh’ initiative to celebrate the organisation’s centenary, drew sharp opposition from student organisations, who described it as “provocative” and inappropriate for the university space.
Amid heavy presence of Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force, students held placards that read “Jamia is our university, not your ‘shakha’” and “reject saffronisation of our campus”, as they raised slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ near the auditorium.
“The RSS is trying to get their chief guest inside the auditorium through one of the many entrances, but we are protesting right outside,” one of the protesting students told the media. The protesters, affiliated with left-leaning student organisations such as the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students’ Association (AISA), urged the RSS functionaries present there to leave the campus immediately.
SFI’s Jamia unit had termed the event a “direct provocation” a day earlier, demanding withdrawal of permission. It said hosting RSS centenary celebrations on a campus with a significant minority student population was “an affront to their dignity and safety”. AISA Delhi president and Jamia student Saiyed raised differential treatment by the administration. “This is the same Jamia where other student groups are not even allowed to hold discussions without security intervention, but the RSS has been permitted to organise a full programme in an air-conditioned hall,” he said, adding students would continue to resist such events to “defend our democratic rights”.
