New Delhi: If we are being called anti nationals for shouting "seditious" slogans questioning hanging of Afzal Guru, then why BJP has an alliance with PDP in Kashmir, which has always "opposed" his execution, asked three students of JNU who were under scanner for an event on campus on the same issue.
"Can BJP charge PDP with sedition for its stand on Afzal Guru. If even thinking about Guru makes a student seditious, why they have an alliance with PDP in Kashmir, which has always opposed the hanging of Afzal Guru and even was party to a resolution brought in the state assembly against his execution," Ashutosh, told reporters here.
JNUSU General Secretary Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash, are among the five students who have resurfaced back on campus after 10 days of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest on sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans during the controversial.
Anant, former Vice President of JNUSU, said, "we are not receiving fellowships on time and they talk about us receiving foreign funding for 'seditious' events on campus. Even if they consider any activity to be unconstitutional or unlawful, they can condemn it but not criminalise."
"The entire country's energy and time is being wasted by using the top machinery for spying against students debating on campus. If we stand opposite to their ideology then they should bring us in mainstream like they did with PDP. How funny it is that they don't share the ideology but can share the power?" he added.
The trio surfaced back on the varsity campus on Sunday night along with Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya who have been sent to three days police remand by a city court, after their midnight surrender and subsequent arrest in the case.
Reiterating their stand of not surrendering before police, Rama Naga said, "we have not been issued any summons so why should be surrender. We have communicated police about our whereabouts and that we are open to questioning".
"We are going to join the movement against branding of the university as anti-national and attack on students. If the movement goes outside the campus, we are going to join there as well," he added.
The students also feature in the list of those who were academically debarred by the university on basis of a preliminary enquiry report by a high-level committee probing the issue. The varsity has allowed them to stay as guests in hostels to enable them to participate in enquiry process.
Jawaharlal Nehru University is caught in a row over an event in the campus to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, where "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised.
