Staff Reporter
The Hindu
NEW DELHI: “Roots in Kashmir”, an initiative of Kashmiri Hindu youth, came out in support of the Delhi University Students’ Union on Saturday in its protest against S.A.R. Geelani, the Zakir Husain College lecturer who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the infamous Parliament attack case.
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists had ransacked the Arts Faculty building on the North Campus of Delhi University on Thursday when a seminar to be chaired by Mr. Geelani was in progress. While the protest was on, DUSU president Nupur Sharma had “requested” Mr. Geelani to leave the venue.
“The public meeting organised by the University Community to debate ‘Communalism: Rhetoric and Reality’ was in reality on so-called ‘Hindu Fascism and Terrorism’. This was clearly mentioned in pamphlets distributed at the gathering,” said Aditya Raj Kaul, a youth activist and coordinator of “Roots in Kashmir”, on Saturday.
“We call upon the conscience of Vice-Chancellor Deepak Pental to investigate the reality behind this propaganda meeting organised by some vested interests to provoke members of the student community of a certain religion. It may be noted that one of the main accused in the Parliament attack case, Mr. Geelani, has not been declared completely innocent by the Supreme Court. He had been released on ‘technical grounds’,” read a statement from the organisation.
Link - http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110957000300.htm
SFI & AISA Goons get violent in the seminar at Law Faculty. (In picture Taslima Chisti of JNU)Staff Reporter | New Delhi
The Daily Pioneer
Parliament attack accused incites youth to end 'fascism' in India, take on ABVP 'goons'
Under heavy police bandobast, the Delhi University (DU) on Thursday facilitated an "interactive session" where venom was spewed on the Government's counter-terrorism initiatives and a known anti-national — SAR Geelani, accused in the Parliament attack case — was hero-worshipped.
Addressing a gathering of about 50 students and teachers at the Arts Faculty seminar hall, Geelani said the Batla House encounter was stage-managed by Delhi Police. He said that different parameters were being applied in the handling of Islamic terrorism and the so-called Hindu terrorism. Geelani was speaking on 'Communalism, Fascism and Democracy — Rhetoric and Reality', organised by a barely-known campus group called University Community.
"There is no democracy in India. The Government, in the name of national security and war against terrorism, is targeting select people and letting others go scotfree. There is a huge difference in the way the Government deals with the so-called Islamic terrorism and those spread by Hindu extremists. Aur zyaada janne ke liye aap baad mein miliye (Meet me later for further explanations)," said Geelani, who was an accused in the 2003 Parliament attack case and was later comforted by the Supreme Court. He said that fascism and prejudice had crept into the four pillars of democracy in India. "Even the Chief Justice of India has been accused of corruption," he said.
About 50 persons, including some teachers from different departments of DU, participated in the talk. Amid slogans like "Civil Liberties Long Live" and "Hindu goons wapas jao", the speakers -- including two working journalists and a professor from the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, Nehsat Quaiser -- professed the cases of banned Muslim group, the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and the likes of Afzal Guru.
Talking about the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists opposing the branding of Hindu groups as terrorists, Geelani said, "Inquilab comes from the youth. You should not fear these goons and end this fascism."
Another speaker said the Malegaon blasts accused, Pragya Singh Thakur, was not a sadhvi but the face of Sangh terror. University sources said a teacher from the Department of English had booked the hall for organising 'a talk'. University officials said they were not informed of the topic and that Geelani was supposed to deliver a lecture. University Proctor Gurmeet Singh even called the organisers repeatedly, asking them to cancel their talk in view of the protests incited by Geelani's and others' views. The meeting, however, went on.
The ABVP members, on the other hand, demonstrated outside the seminar room and shouted slogans, 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'. An activist even managed to reach the dais and spit on Geelani's face, saying 'shame, shame'. The ABVP activists then damaged some windows, doors, chairs and the microphone to disrupt the meeting. However, the meeting continued despite the disturbance. Later, police arrested some ABVP activists.
Exclusive Pics Courtesy - Aditya Raj Kaul
