Arundhati Roy's participation in the rally organised in Delhi University in support of Naxal supporter GN Saibaba receives sharp protest
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists staged protest against the visit of Arundhati Roy in North Campus of Delhi University on September 20. Some left-wing organisations had organised a public meeting outside Arts faculty in the Campus where Arundhati was invited along with GN Saibaba, the Delhi University professor with Naxal links. The ABVP activists gathered in front of the Arts Faculty and shouted slogans against Naxalites and separatism. The organisers of the meeting had claimed that it was against the police brutalities on students, but in reality there were open praises for the ‘revolution’ of the Maoists and the ‘brutality of the Indian State’.
GN Saibaba is said to be a joint secretary of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) and convenor of several forums against Operation Greenhunt. He teaches English at Ramlal Anand College of DU. The Maharashtra police, along with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Delhi Police Special Cell, had raided Saibaba’s house in Delhi on September 16.
By linking the police brutality in the campus to various national problems, these Naxal supporters were propagating an anti-national view of the situation. In reality, these people had organised this meeting with the clear intention to protect GN Saibaba, who has Maoist links according to the police.
That was the reason why there was barely any Delhi University student as their audience. Most of the students present were pro-Maoists from the JNU, apart from few teachers and DUTA president.
ABVP’s Delhi state secretary Rohit Chahal said they would not tolerate any anti-national activity, including promotion of Naxalism and separatism, in Delhi University campus. In today’s peaceful protest of ABVP, the attitude of Delhi Police was highly deplorable. As soon as we started raising slogans, the police arrested around 40 to 50 of our activists (including DUSU president and DUSU joint secretary) and took them to the Civil Line Police station where they were detained for more than four hours. It is highly condemnable that we were not allowed to protest peacefully while the Naxal supporters gave anti-national speeches and raised anti-national slogans and the police was standing there to protect them. DUSU president Aman Awana said they would continue to raise their voice against such anti-national forces like Arundhati Roy, who demanded independence for Kashmir and supported Maoists.
