Chennaiites of all ages come out in protest against Violence at JNU

Moved by the horrific attack against students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi on Sunday night, dozens of citizens took out a candlelight march at Valluvar Kottam on Monday. Unlike the usual protests that attracts the participation of youth and students, there was a large number of elderly persons who took part in the protest.

Janaki, a 60- year-old who turned up at the venue on Monday evening, said she has not been part of any protest till now. “This is my first protest, and I am here to extend my support. Being a democratic country, we have to stop such atrocities in the country. We are here to raise our voice against the people who commit such attacks. It was painful to see students being brutally attacked,” said Janaki.

Holding candles, placards and waving the tricolour high, the participants raised slogans seeking safety for the students. There were more than 50 police personnel at the protest venue, and traffic was diverted in the area.

“This is not one particular incident; it is a chain of events that have been happening in our country. I am here to express solidarity. The attack on students in JNU was an act of terrorism orchestrated by the Union government, and directly overseen by the Home Ministry. So it is our responsibility to raise voice against it,” said Kanaga, a transperson.

“The only way to stop such attacks is to overthrow the fascist government,” Kanaga said.

Earlier in the day, students staged protest demonstrations inside Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT) and Madras University campuses. More than 50 students took out a procession inside IIT-M campus, raising slogans against the attack and seeking the immediate arrest of the masked mob who attacked JNU students. The protesters who assembled at the Central Lecture Theatre after the march also flayed the Delhi police for failing to arrest even one person after the attack and vandalism inside JNU campus.

Alleging that attacks against education institutions have become regular and systemic, the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle, a recognised student-body in the IIT campus, said a university was a space for critical thinking, democratic discussion and engage with curiosity on various complexities of society. “We will continue the legacy of student’s struggle against the draconian police and State atrocity,” said a student member.

At the Madras University, about 30 students assembled inside the campus and staged a sit-in protest, carrying placards condemning the attack on JNU students. Expressing solidarity with the students who were injured in the mob attack, E Karthikeyan, one of the protestors, said JNU students were being subjected to continuous attack. “This has to be stopped immediately. Such attacks will dampen the spirit of an educational institution,” he said.

DMK leader and Lok Sabha member Kanimozhi, the secretary of the party’s women wing, met the protesting students at Madras University to extend her support.

Meanwhile in Coimbatore, members of the Students Federation of India staged a protest in front of Government Arts College and raised slogans condemning the incident. The Left-aligned student outfit’s district secretary Dinesh alleged that right wing forces were resorting to violence to crush voices of dissent.

Similar protests were staged across the State during the day, including at Madurai where students of Madurai Kamaraj University College and MSS Waqf Board College staged agitations against the violence. A section of lawyers of Madurai District Court, too, protested the violence against students.