JNU row: Ex-ABVP member appeals to PM Modi to ensure security, respect to students

Pradeep Narwal resigned from the party earlier this week in protest against the handling of JNU row by the government

Former ABVP member Pradeep Narwal, who resigned from the party earlier this week in protest against the handling of JNU row by the government, has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure "security" and "respect" to all the university students.

"What is the duty of the police? Is it to protect the people of this country or defend a particular ideology? Are they to help the people of nation or a particular political interest. I want to request you to intervene in this issue and ensure proper working of police system without any bias," Narwal, a history student at JNU, said in an open letter to the PM.

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"I want you to ensure zero political intervention in educational institutes, ensure respect for every JNU student, and ensure security to every JNU student considering the way it has been branded anti-national," he added.

Narwal, who was the Joint Secretary of JNU's ABVP unit, along with Rahul Yadav, president of ABVP unit of JNU's School of Social Sciences (SSS) and its secretary Ankit Hans, had resigned from the outfit in protest against the Centre's handling of the row at JNU and "legitimising" actions of right wing fascist forces, saying they "cannot be mouthpiece of such a government which has unleashed oppression on student community".

In the letter to the PM, Narwal has asserted that it was branding of JNU as an "anti-national" university which made him resign from the BJP's student wing.

"I am from Haryana, I was part of ABVP but I quit this organization recently. The inaction and negligence that led to the death of Rohith Vemula and portraying JNU as anti-national forced me to take this decision.

"I personally feel a university is an independent space and political persons and their opinions should have no space and role in governing university matters," he said in the letter.

He said, "I am from a rural background. When I joined JNU my mother asked me about this university, I replied to her that JNU is one of the best institutions of India but now she is asking me after reading the media reports 'Is it the same JNU you were telling me?."

"I don't have an answer. Sir, today there are some factions holding flag in the name of nationalism in their hands and crying to kill students without any reason," he added.

Jawaharlal Nehru University is caught in a row over an event on campus against the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, where "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised.

The varsity's students union president Kanhaiya Kumar is in judicial custody in a sedition case over the incident.