JNU: ABVP, JNUSU Point Fingers After Clash Between the Two Student Groups

As per the JNUSU, members of the ABVP 'attacked' students after they organised a march for Darshan Solanki.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

(Photo Courtesy: www.jnu.ac.in)

A clash allegedly broke out between two groups of students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday, 19 February.

Claim: As per the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU), members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) 'attacked' students after they organised a candle light march for Darshan Solanki, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay student who recently died by suicide.

Counter-claim: The ABVP alleged that members of left organisations vandalised Teflas, the office of the students' union, following an event to commemorate Chhatrapati Shivaji Jayanti.

• National Students Union of India (NSUI) general secretary Ganpat Choudhary rebutted the ABVP's claim and said, "ABVP members kept Shivaji's portrait at JNUSU office for which permission from JNUSU delegation was needed. Despite that, they did it illegally. Other students came there and removed all portraits for screening programme due to which fight broke out between two groups."

The backstory: Last week, a first-year student at IIT-Bombay, died on campus, allegedly by suicide. 

• Identified as Darshan Solanki, the 18-year-old hailed from Ahmedabad in Gujarat

• He was pursuing B Tech in chemical engineering

• The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle, (APPSC), which is a student collective at IIT Bombay, alleged that the incident is “not a personal/individualised issue but an institutional murder," and that the premier institute "did not care to make the space inclusive and safe for Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi students."