Ram Navami Violence: Hinduphobic Onslaught

In a bid to disrupt Ram Navami festivities in Jawaharlal Nehru University, lumpen elements of the Left student unions unleashed violence on ABVP activists on the campus on April 10. Students, supported by ABVP, had made elaborate arrangements for a havan and distribution of prasad.

The puja was scheduled to start at 3 pm at the Kaveri hostel on April 10. Even before it could start, the Leftist students started creating a ruckus at the venue. The havan got delayed because of the disruption created by the Leftist goons. Finally, it started at 5 pm. In the evening, the Left not only disrupted the puja outside the Kaveri hostel but also violently attacked students, including ABVP activists, who were performing the havan. The excuse they made was that the ABVP was not allowing them to eat non-vegetarian food on Sunday, it on the ground that it was Ram Navami.

But their lies were busted within minutes. There are 17 hostels in JNU where non-vegetarian food was being served. Each mess has a mess secretary who decides the menu for the month, in consultation with students. In all such facilities, non-vegetarian food was served.

It was only Kaveri hostel where the violence was unleashed by the Left. Tacitly the Left established a narrative that it was ABVP which was not allowing non-veg food in the hostel, as it was Ram Navami. The Left marched to the Vasant Kunj Police Station shouting slogans that everyone has a Right to Food.

Debunking the narrative set by the Left, ABVP National General Secretary Nidhi Tripathi said that food was never an issue as non-veg was served in all the hostels, including Kaveri. She added that the Left had added the food angle to simply divert the attention from their violent attack on the students.

ABVP JNU Unit Secretary, Umesh Chandra Ajmeera said, “It is important to know about JNU hostels that it is the student here who runs the mess as the mess secretary. The present Kaveri mess secretary is also a Leftist. So, it was his responsibility to decide what is to be cooked in the mess. It was part of his plan to not allow non-veg already in the mess.”

He further said, “A tweet was posted from AISA’s Twitter handle even before the incident had happened that violence is taking place in the campus. A lot of videos have surfaced in which leaders of leftist organisations can be seen pelting stones. Demonstrating their violent nature, the Left thrashed students and differently-abled students. Why? Simply because they were worshiping their beloved Ram.”

Typical of the Left, it was the one to unleash the violence on the students and to cry victimhood. But this time, the agenda of the Left was busted in minutes.

Accusing the Leftists of deliberately disturbing the peaceful environment on the campus, ABVP JNU President Rohit Kumar said that the Left is not able to digest the fact that Ram Navami and Iftaar are being celebrated together on the campus.

“The Ram Navami and Iftar festival celebrated together by Hindu and Muslim students once again established the fact that JNU represents a reflection of India where different identities coexist peacefully. The Left, however, cannot digest this fact. The way they plan to divide the country, here also they planned to create a gulf among the students and divide them by raising the baseless issue of serving of ‘non-vegetarian food’,” Rohit said.

Divya, a BA student, was severely injured in the attack. Accusing AISA leader Harendra Sheshma of leading the attack on her, she said, “After the havan got over, I was moving towards the library when suddenly some students charged towards me. Even before I could understand what was happening, they pushed me down. They also touched me inappropriately.” A video of Sheshma pelting stones had gone viral on social media platforms.

The Left took out a protest march to the Vasant Kunj Police Station Sunday night and lodged a complaint. Based on the complaint of JNUSU, SFI, DSF and AISA, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against unknown ABVP students under Sections 323/341/509/506/34 of the IPC. The students’ union of the university, JNUSU, is controlled by the Left.

A day later on Monday, the JNU administration said that the violence on the campus was unleashed by the students who objected to the havan in the Kaveri hostel. “There was a scuffle on the JNU campus on April 10, 2022 between student groups. It was the occasion of Rama Navami and ‘havan’ was organised by the students in the Kaveri hostel. There were students who were objecting to this. The wardens and the Dean of Students tried to pacify and the havan was concluded peacefully. Despite this, some group of students were not happy with this and soon after, at the time of dinner, a ruckus was created over there and heated arguments were followed by altercation between both the groups in the Kaveri hostel,” JNU Registrar Ravikesh said in a statement.

Commenting on allegations of the Left that ABVP did not allow the non-vegetarian food in the Kaveri hostel on Ram Navami, he said, “Mess is run by the student committee and the administration has nothing to do with the menu. The wardens clarified on the spot and issued a notice when the ruckus was going among students that there is no bar on serving non-vegetarian food.”

Later, JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit visited the Kaveri hostel and appealed everyone to maintain peace.

This was not the first time when the Left had indulged in massive violence. Every year, on one pretext or the other, the Leftists will indulge in violence and terrorise the campus. In 2016, the Leftists have raised derogatory slogans against Maa Durga on the eve of Dussehra. Posters, depicting Maa Durga in derogatory postures, were pated on the walls of the buildings inside the campus. In January 2020, the Left had indulged in
massive violence.