Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members on Wednesday staged protests at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University against the organisation of a cultural event of protest against "the judicial killing" of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and the occupation of Kashmir. The university administration reportedly cancelled the event to avoid any untoward incidents. The Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing also demanded strict action against the students who organised the cultural programme, calling it "anti-national".
Student groups also clashed on Tuesday night regarding the event that was organised "in solidarity with the struggle of the Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self-determination". JNU Students’ Union joint secretary Saurabh Sharma said, "This programme was anti-constitutional. Anyone who tries to portray a terrorist as a martyr will have to face us. We won’t allow such anti-national programmes on campuses."
While the organisers had originally got permission to hold the event, it was withdrawn after the ABVP members complained to the administration. JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar told PTI, "Earlier we were told that it is going to be a cultural programme. When I got to know that it is a protest, we decided to cancel the programme as it is the administration's responsibility to ensure peace and calm on campus."
Corrigendum: An earlier version of this story quoted media reports saying JNU students had organised the screening of a film based on Afzal Guru. Scroll.in reporters later found that there was no such film screening organised.
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