CPM seeks sacking of JNU V-C, says violence on campus was pre-planned attack by RSS-BJP outsiders

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday termed the assault on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students as a "pre-planned attack by the outsiders."

The party also issued a statement demanding that JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar should be sacked. It alleged that masked men responsible for the violence were part of the RSS-BJP. Yechury, who addressed a press conference, said it is clearly a pre-planned attack from the outsiders.

"It is an assault on reason, rationality, and democracy. For five hours nearly, the Vice-Chancellor is not responding and not asking the police to come in and restore normalcy makes him also complicit in this attack," said Yechury.

On Sunday evening, more than 30 students including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered JNU and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

The statement issued by the party's politburo condemned the "brutal attack on the students and teaching faculty by outsiders."

It said that armed masked men entered the JNU campus "in the presence of a big contingent of the Delhi Police and for three hours went on a rampage inside the campus entering the girls' hostels and beating up students."

"It is inexplicable that the Vice-Chancellor and the university authorities allowed outsiders to go on a rampage for hours before asking for police intervention. This also came after Delhi Lt Governor directed the police to maintain law and order and punish the culprits," said the party.

It accused the Vice-Chancellor of allowing the "rampage to go on unchecked for hours."

"The Vice-Chancellor, who has been instrumental in systematically undermining and dismantling the country's premier university, had permitted this rampage to go on unchecked for hours. The Vice-Chancellor should be sacked for this complicity in permitting this attack," the party said.

"The President of India as the Visitor of the University must immediately sack the Vice-Chancellor and ensure that normalcy prevails in the campus," the party added.

The party alleged that the attack was pre-planned and executed with the full knowledge of the authorities.

"Unlike what the Union Home Minister sought to portray as a clash between two groups, the video recordings of this rampage, that have gone viral, and the screenshots of WhatsApp groups like 'Unite Against the Left' clearly show that this attack was preplanned and executed with the full knowledge of the authorities," said the CPI-M.

"From the slogans that these outsiders were shouting, it is clear that they are part of the RSS-BJP. These goons must be punished forthwith," added the party.

( With inputs from ANI )