- Police detain a Bajrang Dal activist who hurled a shoe at JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar (right) during a lecture session in Nagpur on Thursday. Photos: PTI
- The HinduA section of the audience who attended the speech of JNU Student Wing's president Kanhaiya Kumar at Dhanwate Hall in Nagpur on Thursday. Photo: Pavan Dahat
Give me a pair, some poor man can use it, says president of JNU Students’ Union.
An attempt was made to disrupt a program of the Jawaharlal Nehru
University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in Nagpur on
Thursday by hurling a shoe when he was addressing a gathering hardly one
kilometer away from the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters
here.
The JNUSU president, who is facing cases of sedition for allegedly
raising anti-national slogans at the JNU campus, was in Nagpur on
Thursday to participate in various programs on the occasion
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar’s 125 birth anniversary celebration.
Some right wing organizations had already threatened to stall his
program organized by the Progressive Students Youth Action committee.
Five Bajrang Dal men tried to stop a vehicle in which the JNUSU
president was traveling from Nagpur airport to Deekshabhoomi (the place
where Dr.Ambedkar embraced Buddhism with his followers).
The Bajrang Dal men also tried to hurl some stones at his vehicle, however, the police detained them.
When Kanhaiya began to address a packed hall at Dhanwate national
college here at around 2 pm, 10 to 15 men greeted him with the slogans
of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. All the protesters, who belonged to the ABVP,
were swiftly evicted out of the hall by the organizers.
When the JNUSU president was midway in his speech, a person sitting on
the dais , hurled a shoe at him resulting in pandemonium in the hall.
The attacker was arrested by the police and was identified as Hariram
Shende, a Dalit youth reportedly related to a frontal organization of
the RSS
However, Kanhaiya continued his speech and reacting to incidents, he
requested the attackers to give him the other shoe in his pair.
“I request the person who threw shoe at me to give me a complete pair.
Some poor man can use it. I lost my slippers at Deekshabhoomi this
morning and I know it’s heating outside so if someone wants to throw
anymore shoes at me, please bring a pair so that I can use it outside,”
he said.
“This incident has compelled me to speak on some topics I was silent on
until now. I have never spoken on what happened in JNU incident. But
with this repeated shoe throwing saga, I think I should speak on those
topics now. Those, who are destroying constitution by saying ‘Bharat
Mata Ki Jai’ and attack people, are defaming these slogans. If they had
faith in ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, then they would also had faith in this
country’s tradition of truth and non-violence. Why do they indulge in
violence again and again? What revolution do they want to bring by guns
and bombs? Which patriotism are they practicing by throwing shoes at
people?” he added.
When asked about a Dalit youth hurling shoe at him, the JNUSU president
said, " I dont know if he was Dalit. Its sad that Dr. Ambedkar has been
read less and more misinformation has been spread in his name. At times,
the social act of a person overshadows his identity. We have a Backward
caste Prime Minister, have all the problems of the Backward classes
been solved? There are Dalit leaders like Ramvilas Paswan who have
joined the BJP led government. This is all an attempt to divert common
public attention from public issues."
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