Condemn the Jingoist Violence and State Sponsored Administrative Victimisation against the Kashmiri Students in a University in Meerut!

 JOIN PROTEST DEMO AT UP BHAWAN

Time :3 pm

Date: 7 March 2014

We express deep concern over the recent developments in Swami Vivekanand Subharti  University. On 2 Mar, 2014 students of Swami Vivekanand Subharti  University, Meerut were watching a cricket Match between India and Pakistan in the community hall of the hostel. Kashmiri students were beaten up  then they allegedly “celebrated” the victory of Pakistan cricket team. Following this, 67 Kashmiri students were suspended for 3 days from the University and were even forced to evacuate their hostels for three days with their luggage. And now “Sedition” charges have been slapped on the students! The University authorities said that the Kashmiri students had committed an “anti-national act” by cheering for Pakistan cricket team. How is cheering for any cricket team become “national” or “anti-national,” by which law and Constitution? Even if that were the case, how exactly would that apply to, say, the Indian Premier League matches where sportspersons of various nationalities play in a single team? Again, how would it apply to English Premier League football matches in which Indians enthusiastically cheer for various English clubs, knowing full well the atrocities that England had committed on Indians as an occupier? How is it then completely acceptable to cheer for English artists and foreign tennis players, even against an Indian tennis player?

Indeed, Meerut incident is a shocking display of jingoism which seeks to turn even sports and culture into a space of communal warmongering. The deliberate and repeated attempts to turn cricket into a ground for testing the loyalty of people reeks of a communal mindset that serves no purpose, except to weaken the very democratic fabric of this country. These communalists have no contribution in the freedom struggle of India nor do they raise their voice when foreign corporations are given a free hand to exploit the country’s resources. Their claims of nationalism are as hollow as their permanent allegations of “disloyalty” against any minority of this country. How is it that they never speak out against communal violence perpetrated on the minorities of this country?  These are the very forces which keep on insisting that “Kashmir is an integral part of India” without even  once speaking up against the atrocities being committed on Kashmiris  inside and outside Kashmir.

Further, the administrative high-handedness in this issue is unacceptable but not unprecedented. No  action has been taken against the non-Kashmiri students involved in the incident. Not even a mere fine  as imposed on them for engaging in physical violence. The rationale for suspending the Kashmir  students en masse is interesting- the university claims that these students were sent home in order to prevent any communal breakout in Meerut, as it is a “volatile” constituency. But this logic falls flat when we see that draconian “Sedition”  charges have been slapped on the Kashmiri students! Instead of protecting and upholding their democratic rights, the police and administration confess their helplessness vis-a-vis the communal fascists. It is sad that the university authorities as well as the police have internalised the communal agenda and are dancing to the tune of the communal fascists in anticipation.

We ask:
1)What was the need to evict them from the hostels, besides suspending them, if not to impose collective punishment upon them?
2) Why was no action taken against the non-Kashmiri students for indulging in physical violence when Kashmiri students were punished for merely shouting slogans, first by the violent lumpens and then by the administration?
3) What is the guarantee that, after the students are back from Kashmir after “3 days”, they won’t be targeted again? “3 days” is no magic number which will resolve the communal tensions being fuelled by the communal fascist elements on a daily basis.
4) And by what logic archaic colonial “Sedition” charges have been slapped on the Kashmiri students? Any difference in perception and ideas, that too in a university space, has to addressed through dialogue and not brute use of muscle power and administrative high-handedness. Students and people cannot be silenced and brutalised to submission through majoritarian violence and state machinery.

We appeal to the student community to join a Protest Demonstration at UP Bhawan on 7 March,  3.00pm against this gross violence and state-sponsored victimisation against the Kashmiri students in Meerut.

Condemn the Jingoist Violence and State Sponsored Administrative Victimisation against the Kashmiri Students in a University in Meerut!

Withdraw the Draconian Sedition Charges!  

JOIN PROTEST DEMO AT UP BHAWAN on 7 March, 3.00pm