‘Attack devoid of all humanity’: Protests in Kerala over JNU violence

The Students Federation of India (SFI), the student outfit of the ruling CPM in the state — to which Ghosh also belongs — took out demonstrations in all districts except Kozhikode, raising slogans against ABVP, the student outfit affiliated to the RSS, and the central government. In Kozhikode, the demonstrations were led by activists belonging to the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPM.

A massive human chain protest against CAA-NRC, planned by the state leadership of the SFI, is scheduled for January 26. The SFI also plans to take up an elaborate campaign across campuses in the state to educate students about the dangers posed by the CAA and NRC.

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VA Vineesh, the state president of the SFI, said, “The politics of the ABVP and the RSS has always been rooted in fear-mongering. They are trying to scare people using violence. With their own police force, they want to eliminate all those who speak against them. The students of this country and the SFI are not going to be overpowered by such tactics. We have had numerous such experiences. We are not ready to abandon the principles and the politics we uphold.”

The protesters raised slogans against the violence in JNU, the citizenship law and the proposed National Register of Citizens. (Express photo: Vishnu Varma)

In Kochi, a 2-km protest march comprising dozens of students, civil society activists and the public was taken out from Vanchi Square in front of the High Court to the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Rajendra Maidan. The protesters raised slogans against the violence in JNU, the citizenship law and the proposed National Register of Citizens.

Harish Vasudevan, a High Court lawyer who attended the protest, said. “The people who attacked the students and teachers at midnight at JNU wore masks because they don’t have the courage to face the democratic protests (over CAA-NRC). They kept the police outside the gate and attacked ambulances. It was an attack devoid of all humanity.”