Congress condemns police lathicharge on PU students, Haryana Police’s entry into Punjab

In a statement issued here on Monday, Warring referred to the “brutal use” of force by the Chandigarh Police assisted by its Haryana counterparts to prevent them from reaching the PU campus. The PCC president said that the central government, the Chandigarh Administration, and the PU administration do not seem to understand the grave sensitivity of the situation.

“Don’t take it as a routine or a casual administrative matter”, Warring warned, while adding, “people of Punjab have strong sentiments attached with Panjab University that go back to nineteenth century Lahore when it was founded there”.

“First the central government took an unnecessary and uncalled for measure to scrap the Senate and the Syndicate and now it has been avoiding elections and when students demanded time-bound election schedules, they were brutally manhandled.”

The Punjab Congress president expressed his complete solidarity with the students seeking election schedule for the Senate. This becomes all the more important since the BJP government at the Centre is known for going back and reneging on its promises, Warring said.

“We not only support the students’ peaceful demonstration in support of their demand, we also seek a time-bound schedule for the announcement of the PU Senate elections,” he added.

Referring to the media visuals of some Haryana cops being seen inside Punjab border in Mohali, Warring said, this is breach of jurisdiction of the Punjab Police, which must be strongly resisted. He said, the Punjab government must lodge a formal protest with the Haryana government for this breach of territorial jurisdiction of Punjab.

Bajwa said he was “deeply anguished” by the shocking police brutality unleashed on peaceful students at PU.

“The students’ protest stems from a genuine fear — that the central government is trying to strip Punjab of its historic university. The voice of the youth cannot be silenced. Congress stands firmly with them in this fight for justice and dignity,” Bajwa said, in a statement on X.