ABVP holds massive 'Save DU' rally, chants slogans against 'anti-nationals'
ABVP had also organised a Tiranga march on Monday, to invoke nationalist sentiments on the campus.
New Delhi: A ‘Save DU’ march by RSS youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) began in New Delhi on Thursday, to counter a similar march by Left-wing student organisations on Tuesday.
Nearly 2000 ABVP members are participating in the protest, said reports. Posters at the protest site spanned from freedom of expression, extolling ‘nationalism’ and call for respect to standing up against ’anti-nationals’. Some called for an end to Naxalism, while others urged people to stop respected those who are ‘less educated’.
Chants of ‘Bharat mein rehna hoga, Vande Mataram kehna hoga’ (If you want to live in India, you will have to say Vande Mataram) and ‘Kashmir ho ya Guwahati, apna desh apni maati (Whether it is Kashmir or Guwahati, this is the soil of India)’ rent the air as protesters began their march.
Alarmingly, some protesters also asked for ‘traitors’ to be shot dead.
Grisly images of killings purportedly caused by Left-wing extremists in Kerala and West Bengal were also put up on hoardings, said reports.
The march began from the Arts Faculty in North Campus and passed through Vishwavidyalaya Metro station, Miranda College, Sri Ram College of Commerce, Ramjas College, and Law Faculty. It will culminate at a Swami Vivekananda statue.
Heavy security was deployed outside Delhi University’s North Campus before the protests began today.
ABVP had also organised a Tiranga march on Monday, to invoke nationalist sentiments on the campus.
All this comes in the backdrop of unrest in Delhi University, following disruption of an event themed "Cultures of Protest" at Ramjas College, at which JNU student Umar Khalid was supposed to be a speaker. Last week, AISA and the ABVP engaged into a scuffle over cancellation of Khalid's talk. The ABVP also rejected allegations of molestation of girl students, and instead claimed that AISA members had assaulted its female cadre.
However, the leadership of the ABVP suspended two members for allegedly strangulating AISA supporters.
The AISA will hold a similar protest on March 4, said reports.