'Arrogant and Fascist' NDA, RSS responsible for Ramjas violence: Congress

Referring to the recent scuffle in Delhi University's Ramjas College, the Congress Party on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA of joining forces with the Sangh Parivar to unleash an assault on Indian democracy.

Congress leader Manish Tewari said the Ramjas incident was not an isolated one adding that ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi had came to power there has been an attempt to try and adjust the national discourse 90 degrees to the right.

"The time has come for all progressive, pluralistic and patriotic forces to come together and fight this relentless assault on Indian democracy by elements of the Sangh Parivar (that) has the complete and absolute backing of the government right up to the Prime Minister," Tewari told media here.

"This is indicative by the kind of people the Prime Minister has chosen to follow on his Twitter handle," he added.

He further said there is a pattern of intimidation and violence going across the country which challenges the fundamental precept on which the Constitution of India rests.

"That violence would not have been possible if element of the ABVP would have known that the police will become a silent bystander. That is what emboldens people who otherwise are completely cowardly in their conduct to try and intimidate by the use of force and violence," he said.

He added that the violence that took place in Ramjas and the attempt to justify it by senior functionaries of the government is both Fascist and it displays the arrogance of power.

Earlier on February 21, the ABVP members staged a protest outside Ramjas College against an event that had Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid as a speaker.

Following this, a clash broke out between the AISA and the ABVP students last week over cancellation of Khalid's talk.

The two-day seminar was organised by Wordcraft, the Literary Society of the College, on 'Cultures of Protest' a series of seminars exploring representations of dissent in literary productions.

According to the college authorities, the event was cancelled to maintain peace in the campus.