Rajnath says those guilty must pay

JNU row: Left, Janata Dal (U) leaders meet Home Minister

Amid a raging JNU row, Home Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that no innocent person will be harassed but the guilty “will not be spared”.

Singh’s assurance came after a delegation of leaders of Left parties and Janata Dal United met him following reports of  police crackdown post arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition for participating in a programme  which criticised the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Kanhaiya is member of All India Students Federation (AISF), the students wing of CPI.

“No question of harassment of students. But the guilty will not be spared,” Rajnath said on the sidelines of a function here.  

The delegation sought to caution the government against  taking action without evidence. "We met the Home Minister and apprised him about the prevailing tense atmosphere in JNU. Delhi Police has released a list of 20 students in connection with the event, which includes CPI leader D Raja's daughter, but we are asking are they seen in the video shouting slogans?," CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters after the meeting.

CPI MP Raja on Saturday claimed that he had received threat calls on Friday night, with persons speaking in Hindi threatening to gun down his daughter for participating in the controversial JNU agitation. Yechury also charged that the new JNU Vice Chancellor was taking instructions from the government and allowed the police "crackdown". 

"This is happening across all universities; VCs are being removed and the government is appointing persons who will obey their instructions," the CPM leader remarked.

The politics over JNU hotted up as Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, including Anand Sharma, protested inside the campus against police high-handedness. 

“Don’t let them (Modi government) bully you,” was the message Gandhi relayed to the agitating students. 

The BJP countered Rahul by charging that the Opposition leader was attacking Modi government for vote bank politics.  

"Rahul Gandhi and his friends are speaking in the tone of LeT terrorist Hafiz Sayeed, who had tweeted in support of anti-India event in JNU.

 It is an insult to our martyrs and armed forces who sacrifice their lives on the border and will boost the morale of anti-national forces,” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said. 

The slugfest at JNU was virtually a rewind of the war of words that followed the suicide of Hyderabad Central University Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.