Shiv Sena on Thursday slammed the central government over the lathicharge on the JNU students, including blind students who were protesting for the hostel fee hike which included food, security, and accommodation. Shiv Sena called it ‘inhuman’ and said, ‘no government should run amok in this manner.’
The Uddhav Bal Thackeray-led party said: “It was worrying to see the way visually-challenged and divyang students were allegedly thrashed by Delhi police on Monday after they were stopped from marching to Parliament against hostel fee hike by the JNU administration.”
“As Delhi is a Union territory, the responsibility to maintain law and order rests with the Centre,” Shiv Sena said.
While the students alleged they were baton-charged, police have denied having used force. “The lathicharge on JNU students in Delhi was inhuman… The BJP would have created a ruckus in Parliament and organizations like ABVP would have given a call for nationwide bandh had such an incident taken place during the Congress rule,” the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
“The police force which thrashes visually-challenged ones cannot be servants of people and protectors of law. Do not trample down at least the students. No government should run amok in this manner,” it said. The party, however, said students also need to maintain discipline.
“None will support the students’ action of crossing barricades during a protest on Monday,” it said. Terming the hike in the JNU hostel fee “exorbitant”, the Sena sought to know what the government has done to address the concerns raised by the students.
It further said: “The minister concerned could have reached out to the students and heard their grudge out. It said those following right-wing ideologies have been alleging that the JNU is a ‘den’ of Naxalites and people with left-wing inclinations.”
“The university, however, has also produced Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, some of the top politicians and experts,” it said, observing none of them followed a right-wing ideology.