Dozens of students suffered injuries at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), one of India’s top educational institutions, after a clash broke out among groups espousing different political ideologies.
According to reports from the university, students from the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) had a physical altercation with the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) late on Sunday night. The ABVP alleged that many of its members were attacked and beaten by the rivals.
The AISA and SFI are backed by the Left parties of India while ABVP is the student outfit of Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The wounded students have been admitted to Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
According to the ABVP, some of its members were conducting a meeting inside the Student Activity Room in JNU when several left-leaning students arrived there and disrupted the meeting. As the students protested, a brawl broke out between them, and several were left injured.
The ABVP also alleged that the Left students also attacked women and the physically challenged members of their group. They also claimed that a female member sustained severe injuries to the neck, while a physically challenged member was beaten brutally.
Meanwhile, Aishe Ghosh, the president of the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) and a member of the SFI unit of the university, tweeted on Monday that it was the ABVP “goons” who had initiated the attack on left students, leaving them severely injured.
Two videos have also surfaced after the violence. One of them shows a group of students at a rally with placards another shows a student being taken to hospital in an ambulance.
The students protesting were raising slogans against the AISA and the placards read “Naxali goons, leave the campus” (Naxali Gunde, Campus Chodo) and “Red Terrorism Down Down”.
Sharing the video of the student being taken to the hospital, one user named Anita Choudhary said: “The hooliganism of Left students is at its peak at JNU. It is important to take necessary action against it and also against AISA.”
Choudhary also shared another video where students can be heard chanting slogans. She said in her tweet in Hindi that it is necessary to free the educational institutions from the hooliganism of the Left parties.
Last year on 5 January, there was a huge political uproar after some unidentified masked men and women attacked students and teachers at the JNU during a march on the university campus.
The JNU students' union had claimed that female students locked themselves inside the Girls' Wing in Sabarmati Hostel (dormitory). They alleged that attackers were roaming the corridors with rods and sticks.
More than 15 students, including JNU student union president Aishe Ghosh were injured during the violence.