Leaders of Left parties – Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary and MP, S Sudhakar Reddy, CPI general secretary, Pawan Verma, MP, Janata Dal (United), Premchand Gupta, MP, Rashtriya Janata Dal, D P Tripathi, MP, Nationalist Congress Party, D Raja, MP, CPI and Mohd Salim, MP, CPI(M) – met president of India on February 19 and handed over the following memorandum. WE strongly condemn the attack launched by the RSS-BJP against the Left and all other democratic and secular forces in the country. It is clear that by spreading the canard of being “anti-national” the RSS-BJP have mounted an all India attack against the Indian people. While strongly condemning the attack mounted by the RSS under the patronage of this BJP-led NDA government against the Jawaharlal Nehru University, we see this as part of a larger design by the communal forces to carry forward their agenda in institutions of higher learning. This systemic pattern is clearly visible in the incidents in Film & Television Institute of India, Hyderabad Central University leading to the tragic suicide of Rohith Vemula, the incidents in IIT Chennai and now in Jadavpur University. It is clear that the RSS-BJP is mounting an open attack on the democratic and constitutional rights of the people. Further, such attacks are part of the efforts to sharpen communal polarisation in the country. We demand that the JNU Students Union president, Kanhaiya Kumar must be released and all cases of sedition filed against students must be withdrawn forthwith. No harassment and witch hunting must be allowed. The truth has now come out that most of the evidence produced by the government was fabricated. Those who have fabricated the evidence and propagated it, must be punished under the law. We request the president of India to immediately intervene to defuse the situation and prevail upon the Indian government to withdraw from this dangerous course that it has adopted. We are appealing to you, as the custodian of the Indian Constitution, to urgently intervene to defend the people’s constitutional rights that are being trampled upon today.