JNU stir continues to echo in varsities

Hyderabad: Protests continued at universities in Hyderabad over the arrest of JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiaya Kumar on charges of sedition and the death of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit research scholar of University of Hyderabad who committed suicide. A large number of students of the UoH boycotted their classes on Thursday. They also went from class to class requesting students to boycott classes, which many students did.

Protests were also conducted at Maulana Azad National Urdu University on the two issues and also on the demand to retain the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University. Students of the Eflu too conducted a protest rally on Thursday on the two issues. Many Left wing and Dalit students’ organisations in Osmania University, meanwhile, have decided to conduct a round table conference in the university on the JNU and UoH issues on Friday.

On Thursday, members of the Center for Dalit Studies demanded that the one-member judicial inquiry committee of retired judge Ashok Kumar Roopanwal should delay its visit to UoH on February 23 because the university students had decided to conduct a “Chalo Delhi” movement on the Rohith Vemula issue on that day. They also criticised the central government over its handling of the JNU issue.