From Courtrooms to Newsrooms, the Anti-National Debate Continues

A video circulated shows a group of people shouting anti-India slogans and hailing convict Afzal Guru.

JNU teachers & students protest against the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. (Photo: PTI)

With the controversy surrounding the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar showing no signs of dying down, a video circulated shows a group of people shouting anti-India slogans and hailing Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The video allegedly showing JNUSU members shouting slogans such as “we will split India” was shared by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member Rohit Chahal on Facebook. However, there is no clarity on the authenticity of the video.

Pavan Verma of JD(U) during the Times Now debate said, he wholeheartedly condemns the kind of anti-India slogan that the video footage shows.

It’s clear that an outside anti-India group infiltrated what was a student protest. Perpetrators should be identified and arrested.

Pavan Verma, JD(U)

However Nalin Kohli of BJP spoke in support of Kanhaiya Kumar.

Our constitution guarantees us freedom of expression and speech subjecting to reasonable restrictions. Our constitution does not guarantee us the freedom to profess sedition.

Nalin Kohli, BJP spokesperson

Another important issue raised was why Kanhaiya Kumar refused to name the infiltrators who raised pro Afzal Guru slogans and rather protected them.

This is clearly not freedom of expression. There is a Trojan horse in JNU today which is very clearly anti-India. Why didn’t JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar call the police? He just allowed this to happen.

Rashneek Kher, Founder Member, Roots in Kashmir

CNN-IBN News@9 Debate

Columnist Vir Sanghvi during the News@9 debate on CNN-IBN said that it was a sad day in Indian history, worse than the beating-up of media personnel during the Dadri row. Students and media personnel were beaten outside a court in the heart of the capital by lawyers, while the police stood by doing nothing, he added. 

Every panelist was against the BJP with another panelist saying that the judge is the master of the courtroom. If they wanted they could have taken any action to maintain peace in the courtroom.

Sanya Hashmi, a JNU student, who was present on the day when the scene in JNU took place, said that there were no JNU students who said anti-national slogan. She clearly mentioned that it was the actions of a few Kashmiri students who ignited the whole issue. She said that this was an attack on JNU, on public colleges.

Remembering when a case was filed against him for sedition, Aseem Trivedi said that not a single person has been proven guilty of sedition until now. Politicians are just too quick to charge people with sedition.

In the end, Vir Sanghvi just said that the incident could be contained or escalated. BJP escalated it, and now the matter will hang in the courtrooms and in newsrooms for a long time.