[Reader-list] Press statement from University Community

[Shivam V]

> The university administration was asked to file an FIR against the culprits, and
> to constitute a time-bound enquiry into the incident.

If no FIR has yet been filed against the ABVP, it is, to say the
least, shocking.

On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 9:55 PM, hany babu <hanybabu at gmail.com> wrote:
> Press Statement
>
>
>
> *9th November 2008.*
>
>
>
> A protest march against the ABVP's fascist assault and vandalism was held by
> the University Community on the on 7th November, starting from Vivekananda
> statue, Arts Faculty of Delhi University. A large number of students and
> teachers from Delhi University were joined by JNU and Jamia students, and a
> march of more than 600 people traversed all colleges in the North Campus
> raising slogans.
>
> The march also stopped in front of DUSU office for around five minutes,
> raising slogans against ABVP as well as Nupur Sharma, the President and her
> associates who attacked the seminar on 6th November. The march proceeded to
> the Vice Chancellor's office, where a protest meeting was held. Students and
> teachers in one voice spoke against ABVP's communal-fascist politics, the
> inaction of the Delhi Police as well as the administration's attempt to curb
> the rights of speech and expression.
>
> A delegation of students and teachers, which also included the
> representatives of University Community, the organizers of the public
> meeting of the 6th November, met the DU administration and demanded
> immediate and strict action against the ABVP lumpens who were responsible
> for full-scale vandalism, physical assault and inciting communal frenzy. The
> university administration was asked to file an FIR against the culprits, and
> to constitute a time-bound enquiry into the incident.
>
> The ABVP and its masters, BJP, have however continued to justify their
> action. They, including Nupur Sharma have been giving communally charged
> statements in the media targeting Prof. SAR Geelani in particular and the
> university community in general. The ABVP has been spreading completely
> baseless allegations and are hounding the organizers of the public meeting
> and the members of the group, University Community. Yesterday the ABVP tried
> filed a false case alleging that four members of the group tried to attack
> the DUSU office. The white lie however was for all to see, the march was
> conducted peacefully and no such incident as alleged by the ABVP has ever
> occurred. The members of media were present, and a large contingent Delhi
> Police personnel was deployed which accompanied the whole course of the
> protest march, and they would have reported about it had such incident
> occurred.  A number senior teachers  of the university also were present,
> who marched along with the students.  It is to be noted that even before the
> march reached in front of the DUSU office, the gates of the office were
> closed.  After their fascist politics getting successfully repelled and
> thoroughly exposed, the ABVP and its masters in RSS and BJP are now
> resorting to spreading rumours and baseless allegations in order to save
> their face. We condemn such fascist tactics of the ABVP and the *
> sangh-parivar* to intimidate and repress the democratic voices of the
> campus.
>
> The University Community takes strong objection to the false and dangerous
> propaganda from a person holding a responsible office like the President of
> the student union the largest Central University of the country. Moreover,
> by calling a teacher of the university a terrorist, ABVP and Ms Nupur Sharma
> has insulted the entire student of the university. We demand an
> unconditional apology from Ms Nupur Sharma for her objectionable remark. By
> planning and organising the attack under her leadership personally (she
> personally led the vulgar attack on the spot) she made an aborted attempt to
> disrupt a meeting which was duly publicised and held at a venue with the
> permission of the University Authorities. ABVP is also challenging all the
> democratic structures of the university. In fact, this very act goes a long
> way to prove the concerns expressed by the organizers about the "increasing
> onslaught of the right- wing Hindu communal-fascist forces" in our country.
> This act and the brazen manner in which the DUSU President has carried this
> act shows us that the threat looms much larger than we can envisage. It is
> not only states like Gujarat or Orissa that are witness to this onslaught,
> even institutions of higher learning in the national capital are not free
> from the clutches of Hindu communal fascist goons.
>
>
> Ms Nupur Sharma has also gone on record saying that she herself would have
> spat on SAR Geelani. This also shows that the DUSU President has no respect
> for the law or the judicial system of the country, let alone codes of
> civilized conduct in public places. We should all think whether such a
> person has any right to hold a responsible office. It is the typical
> duplicity of politics of the Hindutva brigade to take recourse to the law
> when it is convenient for their divisive politics and to break it to run
> their writ as they are against all forms of democratic functioning or
> accountability.
>
>
> It is also interesting to see the ABVP student who resorted to a heinous act
> of spitting on respected Geelani is trying play another drama in sections of
> media that  like Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, another ABVP goon, arrested in
> connection with the Malegaon blasts, that he doesn't belong to ABVP. Another
> false claim made by ABVP, which appeared in sections of newspapers is that
> the seminar was organized by outsiders. The University Community comprises a
> group of students and teachers of Delhi University who thought it is high
> time that we started discussing some of the burning issues that are
> threatening to incinerate the secular and democratic fabric of our society.
> It is only natural that some people who are interested in the topic would
> have decided to attend the seminar as is the tradition in all universities
> whether it is DU, JNU or Jamia Millia Islamia. Since DU has no policy to
> hold all the events inside closed doors, it is surprising that the DUSU
> President takes objection to the presence of some "outsiders". Perhaps for
> the likes of Nupur Sharma and ABVP  and to the politics of communal fascism
> which she owes her affiliation, anyone who talks for the oppressed or
> incarcerated or anyone who dares to raise the voice against a highly
> patriarchal, oppressive, casteist, and communal Hindutva brigade is an
> "outsider".
>
>
>
> *University Community*
>
> *Contact Persons: Arjumand Ara, Natasha, Tripta Wahi, Shikha, Umar Khalid
> Harsh Bora, 9811855618, universitycommunity at gmail.com*
>
>
>
>
> --
> University Community
>
> Students and Teachers of University of Delhi
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