Protest against remark on dalits

Amidst the ongoing JNU row, a protest demonstration was held at the JNU administration block on Tuesday against the statements allegedly made by Prof. Amita Singh against Dalits and Muslims. She allegedly made the remarks against students and teachers of JNU, targeting them on the basis of their caste, religion, region when she took a lecture on nationalism.

JNUSU general secretary Rama Naga, while addressing the students, said, “I would like to tell Prof. Amita Singh that she should have at least remembered the name of the vice-president. She could not even get her name properly and then such professors make comments about Dalits and Muslims She held a press conference in the campus after making those comments where she invited both Dalit and Muslim students to defend her and said whatever comments she made were by mistake and should not be taken seriously. I would like to ask the vice-chancellor why is he silent when everyday JNU students are harassed outside the campus He must clarify under what compulsion he has not even condemned the statement. The administration must take responsibility and act against such statements.”

The protest soon turned against the series of showcause notices served to the students on different issues. After the notices issued to five students regarding the burning of Manusmriti, the latest is Jitendar Kumar of School of Languages, who has been served a notice for allegedly writing Jai Bhim on administration building. The JNUSU in a letter to the university administration alleged that the recent spate of show-cause notices indicate certain ideological bias and censorship through disciplinary method. The letter stated, “The said notices indicate a certain kind of ideological bias and censorship through administrative and disciplinary methods. We urge you to ensure that the administration does not act in a partisan manner.”

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar echoed his views. “JNU administration has started issuing show-cause notices for everything and anything.”