SDPI national vice president Adv. Sharfuddin Ahmad, while condemning anti-national slogans having been raised in the JNU campus, has castigated the Delhi police for arresting JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar without taking permission from the JNU Vice Chancellor and following the legal procedures as laid down by law and slapping sedition charges. This was all done despite the fact that Kumar along with his fellow Union office-bearers had repeatedly made it clear that JNUSU neither organized the event nor raised any anti-India slogans during the said event. This amounts to be clear violation of fundamental rights.
Adv. Ahmad demanded that Kanhaiya Kumar should be released forthwith then only peace can be restored in the JNU campus. Thereafter, a thorough impartial inquiry conducted into the episode to get to the root of the matter. A dialogue can also be initiated between the warring parties to resolve the issue amicably. It appears that arrest of Kumar was done post haste by the police to please their super boss namely the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who had exhorted them to take up action, he added.
Adv. Ahmad said that slapping sedition charges against a person who wasn’t even involved in the said protests is a gross over-reaction by the Union Home Ministry. It’s not only unconstitutional but also looks like the government is trying to do in certain key universities all across the country so that the right-wing youth organizations like ABVP could cement their place in traditionally left wing campuses.
He said the government is wasting precious time agitating over various student activities and should leave the detailed handling to the university authorities. Rather than invoking sedition laws against students the Govt should setup counselling centres with JNU who can advise the students to rely more on their speeches and written word rather than conducting agitations on various issues.
He said that NDA’s Modi-led government is openly indulging in double standards. On 26 January this year, the “Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha” observed Republic Day as “Black Day”. Is this not sedition? Why action against them was not taken. BJP’s dubious nature on “nationalism” is completely a mockery of the ideal of Indian Constitution. There should be Equality before Law. The government must take action against them immediately without bias. If not, then BJP’s Nationalism is selective and a fraud on the Constitution.
Adv. Ahmad said that is praising Godse, killer of Mahatma Gandhi, the biggest terrorist of India treason or not? Is glorifying the murderer of father of the Nation by some persons a patriotism act? Is it not anti-national? Supporters of Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, are calling the students anti-national! What an irony! Why this double standard?
He opined that having different opinions and voicing it makes the democracy thrive. The order of a house can not be restored with the fear of punishment, because fear breads repression and repression breads hatred. Intolerance is the enemy to the nation’s unity and integrity, he added.
The statement stated: “The NDA Government should do well to remember what Voltaire, the French historian and philosopher, had to say about freedom of expression. People are free to voice their opinion, even if it is anti-establishment. A dignified protest is far better than violence and communal violence. The police should be utilised for better things than arresting students. Or are they only fit to arrest and harass the weak and unarmed?”
The Hindu Mahasabha commemorated the death anniversary of Nathuram Godse, a terrorist who killed Mahatma Gandhi. Why no action against such anti-national activities.