Striking JNU union locks HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal inside convocation centre
11 Nov 2019
Irked by a sudden spike in tuition fee and hostel charges at top-rung Jawaharlal Nehru University, students who were used to dirt cheap education staged violent protests outside the varsity campus, even as vice president N Venkaiah Naidu was addressing a convocation ceremony inside.
The protesting students tried to march towards the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), where vice president Venkaiah Naidu was addressing the convocation.
Authorities had to put up barricades at the entry gate and deploy CRPF personnel to stop them from staging protests inside the campus.
Visuals of the protests showed students trying to climb over the barricades and trying to resist the security personnel who were deployed at the spot. Visuals also showed students being dragged away from the gates of the university. The Delhi Police had to resort to use of water cannons on students and members of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) to force the protesters to disperse.
As the clashes turned violent, a delegation of Delhi Police, comprising Special Commissioner of Police (headquarters) R S Krishnia and DCP (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa entered the JNU campus in a bid to hold a mediation meeting between students and vice chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar as demanded by the agitating students.
The JNU was holding its third convocation on Monday, which was addressed by Vice President Naidu along with Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.
Activists of the JNU Students’ Union had also locked in the HRD minister since morning. The minister has been extracted by the Delhi Police. Ramesh Pokhriyal, HRD Minister was there to attend the convocation that was happening today. However, the protest is still on and students are not ready to call it off anytime soon.
Some reports said the HRD minister is still confined within the convocation centre as the students have not allowed the Delhi Police to place barricades at the gate. The police is finding it difficult to evacuate the minister from the centre.
The JNU Students' Union had called for boycott of the convocation ceremony and demanded the roll-back of the hostel draft manual and fee hike proposed by the JNU administration.