Several Left-wing student organizations at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the ‘Guerrilla Dhaba’ on the campus. This occurred following the Supreme Court’s rejection of bail for former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in relation to the 2020 Delhi riots case. Affiliated with groups like the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), the All India Students’ Association (AISA), and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), around 30 to 40 students protested by chanting anti-government slogans.
The demonstrators shouted phrases like “Modi-Shah ki kabra khudegi, JNU ki dharti par,” which elicited a strong response from the BJP. The BJP criticized the Left-wing groups, connecting the protest to the bail denial of Khalid and Imam. BJP leaders referred to the protesters as part of the “tukde ecosystem” and labeled them “urban Naxals.” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla condemned the slogans, calling the protesters an “anti-India bunch of Urban Naxals.”
Another BJP national spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, also denounced the incident through a social media post. He criticized the “Urban Naxals” supporting Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, stating that their actions were an appropriation of anti-India ideology. Despite the protest, the Delhi Police reported no complaints regarding the sloganeering at JNU. Union Minister Giriraj Singh expressed concern over JNU becoming a hub for the so-called ‘tukde-tukde’ gang, involving various opposition forces like Rahul Gandhi, the TMC, and Left parties.
