JNU attack an act of 'terrorist Leftist students': Ram Madhav

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday alleged that the violence in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was an act of a small number of "terrorist Leftist students", who have been hampering studies and research of thousands of students there for decades.

He called the January 5 violence in JNU as "conspiracy of Leftists and their supporters". "Since decades, thousands of students have been tortured due to the terror of Leftists in JNU. The violence seen now is the culmination of the same thing. A few, small number of terrorist Leftist students have always been hampering the rights of thousands of students to study and conduct research in JNU," Madhav alleged.

Masked people armed with rods and sticks had stormed in the JNU campus on the night of January 5 and assaulted students and faculty, and vandalised property, leaving several people injured. Leftist outfits and the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have blamed each other for the violence.

When questioned about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Madhav claimed normalcy was returning to the union territory, with internet being restored "to a great extent" and local leaders in detention being released. He claimed that only "20-25" leaders are yet to be released and this would happen in a phased manner.

 "People are living a normal life in Jammu and Kashmir. There were two major restrictions there, one being internetwhich is about to be removed. To a great extent, mobile services have been restored. Most of the leaders under detention are out. And I believe government will release the remaining 20-25 leaders in phases," he claimed.

He said there was no need to have a special discussion on J-K as it was not like "any other territory" in the country. The BJP leader said that allowing foreign delegations in the restive region was part of an effort to remove "misunderstanding being spread" across the world about J-K. "Everybody will be allowed to visit there as per the situation," he said when asked about the opposition leaders not being allowed to visit the UT. Praising the Narendra Modi government, Madhav claimed that "90 per cent people" were supporting the decisions of the Centre, like removal of Article 370 in J-K, the Ram Mandir issue and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

He asserted that the CAA, which is at the centre of protests across the nation, was not discriminatory. "Citizenship is not a separate Act. Everybody has the right to acquire citizenship after fulfilling certain requirements. An amendment has made it possible for particular sections to get citizenship at the earliest. But people are being misled by false propaganda," he added. "A few people who cannot take on Modiji politically are using terrorism and lies to create disturbance in the country," Madhav said.