Never support any unconstitutional activity inside campus: JNU teachers association

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) teachers association on Sunday said that they have never supported any unconstitutional activity inside the campus and have always opposed it.

"It is a sad thing. Today after Emergency one of our leaders (JNUSC Pres.) has been picked from the campus on charges of sedition from the campus. This was done during emergency and we know that for 19 months, our president lived in jail but he came out and didn't change his ideology," JNU teachers association president Ajay Patnaik told a press conference.

He also said that the university is very progressive and always gives space to the marginalised section of the society.

"We in this campus have never supported and have always opposed any unconstitutional activity. But that doesn't mean that you (government) will pick up anyone and put sedition charges against him," he added.

Patnaik further said that the university provides space for debate and discussion.

"We stand for social harmony, secularism, democracy and liberal space. We love our autonomy and want to preserve our autonomy at whatever cost," he said.

He also said the JNU teachers association always stands for upholding the Constitution of India and the values enshrined therein.

Meanwhile, Professor Nandita Narayan said that the right to dissent doesn't amount to sedition.

"Universities are those spaces in the country where the democracy remains alive. They teach the students how to have a dialogue. They are the places where dissents are allowed to crop up. Right to dissent doesn't amount to sedition," Professor Nandita Narayan said.

The Delhi Police had earlier on Friday arrested JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition.

Kanhaiya, who has been booked with charges of sedition, was arrested on Friday over a protest organised in the university campus on February 9 against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.