After Kolkata Students' Slogans, Home Ministry Asks For Report

Kolkata: After students in Kolkata raised slogans in support of terrorist Afzal Guru, the Home Ministry has asked the Bengal government for a report.

The Centre is dealing with an escalating crisis over its handling of a similar event last week at the country's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU.  A student leader, Kanhaiya Kumar, was arrested on sedition charges for allegedly making anti-India remarks.   

Despite criticism from the opposition, the government has defended the arrest of Mr Kumar, who is 28. Yesterday, Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju told NDTV that "direct evidence" will soon be disclosed against the student who was controversially arrested from his hostel on campus.

Students and teachers at JNU have protested against what they describe as the heavy-handed reaction of the government, while opposition leaders have said the JNU controversy exhibits the government's determination to crush dissent.

Last evening, at a rally at Kolkata's famous Jadavpur University, cheers were raised eulogising Afzal Guru, hanged in 2013 for masterminding the attack on parliament in 2001. Slogans supporting independence for Kashmir from India were also heard, though the focal point of the rally was to express solidarity with Delhi's JNU and Mr Kumar.  

"Please let me tell you in what context I have said that. We all love our country. 'Azadi' for us signifies freedom from atrocities, atrocities of the Modi government, and freedom from intolerance," said a student leader named Nirjhar Mukhopadhay, who was one of the main organisers of the event.

Another organiser, a student named Shounak Mukhopadhyay, said the controversial remarks could have been made by outsiders of "fringe elements".

But others, like Jubi Saha, told NDTV that she did raise pro-azadi slogans for Kashmir and Afzal Guru and she did not believe she was doing anything anti-national.

"I believe in the Kashmiri's right to self-determination. And Afzal Guru's hanging is a matter of dispute," said Ms Saha, an engineering student.