Thousands of Guwahatians came to the streets to register their protest against the anti-national activities in JNU, Jadavpur and some other universities
It looked like a usual protest march involving thousands of people carrying the Tricolour and shouting slogans against anti-national elements. They marched on the busy streets of Guwahati on February 27, the virtual capital of north-east Bharat, but its aftershocks elongated for days in the trouble-torn region, as a section of the media tried to play the trick. The protest march was kicked off from Dighali Pukhuri Point and culminated at the same place after marching up to Chandmari locality. The Guwahatians devotedly responded to the call of Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) for the protest march condemning the anti-national advocates that emerged from different higher educational institutions like JNU, Jadavpur University, etc recently.
The protesters rubbished the JNU students for terming Parliament attack mastermind Afzal, a martyr. The JNU controversy has already gripped the huge public space in Bharat with international media attentions as the authority had arrested many student leaders under the sedition charge. Even both the Houses of the Parliament debated over the matter, where the Opposition criticised the NDA Government for its ‘quick action against the culprits’.
Earlier, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani initiated to hoist the National Flag at all 46 Central Universities of the country. The Vice-Chancellors of these universities who had a meeting with the Minister on February 18, resolved unanimously that the Tricolour would be flown prominently and proudly on their campuses to signify a united Bharat. The PPFA, which is a forum of conscious individuals without any political party alliance, hailed the initiative arguing that it would help erasing the unwanted impression about Delhi-based prestigious institute that the JNU had virtually turned into a hotbed for anti-Bharat elements. Underlining the importance of elevating the Tricolour, the Forum pointed out that it symbolises the immense sacrifice made by millions of known and unknown freedom fighters to make Bharat an independent nation and every responsible citizen should salute the National Flag.
“It has been observed that separatist elements and a bunch of so-called intellectuals of the country have long been opposing the hoisting of Tricolour citing their grievances against the Union government. They must understand that the National Flag does not belong to the government, rather it is owned by every Indian citizen,” said Rupam Barua of the PPFA.
The participants of the Guwahati march shouted slogans ‘Vande Mataram, Joi Asom, Anti-Nationals Go Back, Punish JNU Anti-Nationals, Condemn Jadavpur Anti-Nationals, ‘RADICAL’ Get Out, China’s Bootlickers Get Out, etc’.
The long march was led by a number of noted citizens, including eminent journalists like Dhirendra Nath Chakrabarty, noted publisher Giripad Devchoudhury, retired bureaucrat Rohini Barua, award-winning film-maker Manju Bora, ex-army officer Ranjan Dutta, film-critic Utpal Datta, popular singer Babita Sharma, academician Jagadindra Raychoudhury, publisher Dhiraj Goswami, physician Alekhya Barua, environmentalist Soumyadeep Dutta, etc.
The protest march received good media coverage across the region except few Assam based media outlets who tried to term it as a congregate of rightist people (read sympathisers of BJP) only. A Guwahati based newspaper, owned by a Congress leader, reported that the protest march was sponsored by Hindu-centric agencies, whereas another Assamese daily edited by a Left aligned intellectual simply preferred to kill the news, as if it had never happened.
NJ Thakuria
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