Progressive and left organisations here have condemned the “police atrocities on peacefully protesting students” at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.
In a press release, Pragatiapara Sanghatanegala Okkoota, a forum of progressive organisations, signed by activists and intellectuals K. Neela, R.K. Hudgi, Prabhu Khanapure, Maruti Gokhale, P.K. Tiwari, M.B. Sajjan, Virupakshi Tadakal, and Sreemanth Biradar, termed the police action on the students as an assault on democracy and freedom of expression.
“The students were peacefully protesting against the amended Citizenship Act, which attempted to discriminate along the lines of religion. The armed policemen entered the campus and brutally unleashed atrocities on the agitating students. The Union government’s attempts to use force to suppress dissent and undermine the very foundations of democracy are not tolerated by the people of this country... The Union government is directly involved in the communal activities that are spreading hate among people against the minority communities,” they said.
They asserted that the ongoing agitations would continue until the “communal amendment” to the Citizenship Act was withdrawn. They also demanded stringent action against the police officers responsible for the attack on students.
In another statement, the All-India Democratic Students Union has termed the incident as the dark day of Indian history. “We uphold the democratic rights of the students of Jamia as well as others and stand by them in their protest against the communally discriminative amendment to the Citizenship Act. We warn the Union government of intensified agitations if it continues to unleash terror on peacefully protesting masses,” Hanamantha S.H. and Eranna Isaba, district president and secretary of the students’ outfit, said the statement.
