JNU students take out silent protest march over being ignored by ABVP during N-E CMs' speech

New Delhi: To condemn the behavior of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the north-eastern students held a silent protest march on Wednesday night at the Ganga Dhaba in JNU, seeking an apology from the RSS backed student body for not allowing them to join their respective state's chief Minister's speech.

On Tuesday, chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam visited the JNU campus to campaign on behalf of the study body ABVP. However, high drama unfolded after the north-eastern students were denied permission to voice their concerns in front of the CMS.

Responding to how the north-eastern students were ignored by the ABVP, the north-eastern students claimed that ABVP on Tuesday had organised an event called Ishan Uday: Bridging the Heart in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur were invited to speak. "But ironically, instead of bridging any hearts, the event ended up exposing the revolting prejudice, chauvinism and bigotry inherent within ABVP against people from India's north-east. We, the students from north-east in the campus had expected a productive dialogue with the Chief Ministers of the home states. We wished to convey our concerns regarding the relevant issues of their respective states. But at the last moment, the students were informed that there will be no interactive sessions with the Chief Ministers. So, the students from north-east went to the venue to peacefully distribute pamphlets containing the questions they wanted to raise. But the hooligans from ABVP threatened and assaulted the female students who were distributing these pamphlets."

Moreover, the situation escalated when the ABVP unnecessarily started sloganeering against these students, and refused to 'allow' any students from north-east to enter the venue, including the Convener of North East Students Forum, JNU. The students claimed that it (act by ABVP) shows how they completely disregard any agency on the part of the people of north-east, and want to appropriate each and every political happening. And finally, it exhibits their patronising hyper-masculine attitude that thrives on bullying and violence.