The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) now in session in New Delhi has issued the following statement on February 17.
THE Central Committee of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the Delhi Police for not carrying out the directions of the Supreme Court to provide adequate security to arrested JNU Students Union president, Kanhaiya Kumar. Despite these orders, Kanhaiya was assaulted today at the Patiala House courts by the RSS/BJP goons under the very nose of the police. There appears to be a complete break down of any authority of the law enforcing force in the nation’s capital and the subversion of judicial orders is done with impunity.
The elected JNUSU president is under police custody since he was arrested under the serious charge of sedition. These charges are baseless. The Central Committee demands that the JNUSU president be immediately released and the charge of sedition against him and other students be dropped.
The Central Committee also strongly deplores the attack mounted by the RSS under the patronage of this BJP-led NDA government against the Jawaharlal Nehru University. An isolated incident, which is still under investigation and guilt is yet to be established and which does not reflect the opinion of the vast majority of the students, is now being blatantly used as an excuse to clamp down on the progressive and democratic student movement and malign an institution like the JNU. This has been a long harboured design of the RSS and its camp followers. This anti-democratic authoritarian attack on JNU campus, seen in the light of State sponsored efforts by the BJP central government to silence dissent in premier educational institutions, has serious implications.
The Central Committee also condemns the manner in which the RSS/BJP goons have disrupted the court proceedings and not ensured the proper hearing in the case. Today’s brutal physical attack is the second in a row on lawyers, media persons and JNU students and faculty members who were present in the court premises. A BJP MLA from Delhi has been caught on camera leading and physically attacking students and media persons. The fact that no proceedings have been initiated against him and the others damningly exposes the partisan attitude of Delhi Police, which functions directly under the union home ministry. On the contrary, the Police Commissioner of Delhi has brazenly justified such vandalism. He has no right to continue in office. This is nothing but a blatant attempt to subvert the process of delivery of justice in the country. Such strong arm tactics are reminiscent of highly authoritarian and fascistic tendencies.
It is clear that this BJP government is seeking to divert the attention of the people from its all round failure and the imposition of unprecedented burden on the vast mass of the Indian people. It is seeking to sharpen communal polarisation by rousing jingoism on the basis of fabricated and preposterous charges against the progressive values of JNU and many other centres of higher education in the country. These JNU developments come soon after the tragic suicide of a bright dalit student, Rohith Vemula, due to such blatant political interference by the RSS and this government in the Hyderabad Central University.
The Central Committee of the CPI(M) calls upon all democratic and secular forces to unitedly struggle to protect the JNU from the Hindutva authoritarian onslaughts. They must unitedly thwart the attempts of the communal forces to jettison democratic rights and the system of delivery of justice in the country.
