NYT, Pak, 26/11 & Mother India rule JNU stir discourse

As the row over the Sunday violence in JNU campus saw no sign of letting up with both sides blaming each other, hyperboles ruled the discourse. Politicos brought in references to the Mumbai terror strike, the attack on Nankana Sahib of Pakistan and sacrifices for Mother India to justify their respective positions.

Information of Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar trained guns at the leading US daily The New York Times over its report claiming that the attackers at JNU had raised chants of "Jai Shri Ram".

“It seems @nytimes consists of the most ardent bhakts of Lord Ram as they seem to find him everywhere. On a serious note, waiting to read @nytimes ground reporting of the violence & religious persecution from Shri Nankana Sahib. Which slogans did they hear there?,” the Union Minister tweeted.

The BJP and the central government remained in denial mode over the involvement of alleged members of the party’s student wing ABVP even as multiple videos surfaced on the social media suggesting it. Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a BJP leader from Bihar claimed: "No worker or leader BJP can think of inciting anyone. This is the work of the Communists, the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal."

The government also fielded its third prominent Scheduled Caste face in the Cabinet Ramdas Athawale, who sought to pin the blame for the violence on Left-backed unions, while BJP leader Sambit Patra sought to revive “Hindu terrorism” remark of a Congress leader in the past to blunt Opposition attack on JNU violence.

In Mumbai, the surfacing of a 'Free Kashmir' poster during a protest at the Gateway of India during the protests against JNU violence on Monday raised the political temperatures high. So was the reported comment of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that the attack on JNU students on Sunday night reminded him of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

Athawale, the Scheduled Caste leader from Maharashtra, said it was “not proper” for the chief minister to make a comparison between JNU incident and the Mumbai terror strike. He added that the university was hogging headlines for reasons like “raising of anti-India slogans and demonstration to condemn the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru” other than for disrupting the registration process for the winter semester and protests against hostel fee hike.

Party’s television media face Sambit Patra attacked Sena’s Sanjay Raut for “defending” the “Free Kashmir” poster at Mumbai Protests.

Meanwhile, a little-known Hindu Raksha Dal, which suddenly surfaced on social media with a video, said, “We are always ready to sacrifice our lives for Mother India. We will not tolerate anyone who speaks against [Hindu] religion.”

Refusing to buy the Dal’s own-up, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, whose party has been repeatedly attacking ABVP for the attack, said, “now some random organisation named Hindu Raksha Dal comes up and takes the responsibility of the #JNUVioence. We are indeed living in funny and interesting times, where truth is surrounded by multiple fake narratives.”