Violence in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus erupted after a dispute over non-vegetarian food being served on campus that left several left-wing students wounded and bleeding. The incident took place in the Kaveri Hostel on Sunday, after members of the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad protested against non-vegetarian food being served on Ram Navami, a Hindu festival and they were doing pooja on the campus.\u00a0 The ABVP; however, has claimed that the clashes began after left-wing students tried to stop a Ram Navami puja, which the left-wing students denied.<\/p>\n
According to the police, six left-wing students were injured. Photos and videos of the incident circulated on social media showed a student bleeding from the forehead and another with injuries on his back.<\/p>\n
Anagha Pradeep, councilor of JNU Students\u2019 Union (JNUSU), spoke to Indian Express and said, \u201cEvery Sunday, both non-vegetarian and vegetarian food is cooked in all hostels. This is the usual practice. ABVP students were having some event near Kaveri Hostel and when the vendor came to deliver chicken, they stopped him. They harassed and heckled both him and the mess secretary, saying that a havan is being held and non-vegetarian food can\u2019t be cooked,\u201d<\/p>\n
The ABVP on the other hand claimed that Left groups had disrupted a Ram Navami puja on campus. ABVP activists however claimed non-vegetarian food was not an issue. \u201cCommon students of JNU were conducting a Ram Navami havan in the Kaveri Hostel but the Leftists wanted to bring discord and came to prevent it from happening and stop people from joining. It was supposed to start at 3:30 pm but could only start by 5 pm because of the ruckus. No one objected to non-vegetarian food, this controversy has been created as a cover\u2026 An iftar party and the havan were taking place simultaneously in the hostel with no issues,\u201d claimed Umesh Ajmeera, secretary ABVP-JNU, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n
Police said on Sunday night that the violence had stopped and the campus was now calm. \u201cThere is no violence as of now. A protest was held which is over. We are all positioned here with our team. At the request of the university, we have come here. We are trying to maintain peace,\u201d Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Manoj C. was quoted as saying by PTI.<\/p>\n
The Kaveri mess committee, which is run by students, supported the allegation that ABVP members were trying to stop non-vegetarian food from being served. The committee has written to the dean of students, asking for action to be taken against those people:<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, a group of people arbitrarily asked the meal manager not to cook non-veg (chicken) food for which he complied without informing the hostel and mess committee. The vendor who came to deliver the chicken was verbally abused, threatened, and manhandled. Students from outside of Kaveri hostel assaulted hostel committee members. The situation continues to be tense and we request immediate restoration of normalcy, which includes the pre-decided dinner menu of Kaveri hostel.\u201d<\/p>\n
In February 2022, the new JNU vice-chancellor, Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit<\/a> who has often put her Hindutva right-wing political views out in the open on Twitter, allegedly had earlier supported genocide calls for Muslims, slammed farmers, and later when this matter came to light, she quickly deleted her Twitter account, made a new one and denied that she had made those tweets.<\/p>\n A student writes, “ABVP goons, armed with sickles, pelting stones & assaulting students at the #JNU campus last night”<\/p>\n Thank you Modiji \ud83e\udd7a\ud83d\ude4f<\/p>\n ABVP goons, armed with sickles, pelting stones & assaulting students at the #JNU<\/a> campus last night.\ud83d\ude37#JNUViolence<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/o3cf4oVP1P<\/a><\/p>\n — SHIKHA (@Shikha__Rawat) April 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n