Bhubaneswar, March 23: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union general secretary Rama Naga today defended organising an event on campus against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru on February 9. 

The incident has snowballed into a major controversy after police arrested students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition.

Speaking at an event in Bhubaneswar, the 24-year-old, who hails from Maoist-hit Boipariguda block of Koraput district, said the ruling BJP was trying to malign the university’s image. 

“The People’s Democratic Party, which formed a coalition government with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir, had also condemned Afzal Guru’s hanging. Besides, several judges have also voiced their opinion against Afzal’s sentence. Belonging to a university which is known for debates, the students have not done anything wrong,” said Naga.

He said the incident was orchestrated by the BJP to dilute the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit student from the University of Hyderabad, who hanged himself after being branded as an anti-national and denied his stipend. 

“We have been saying that Vemula was killed as he was compelled to take the drastic step. At a time when the protest over his death was gathering momentum, the BJP deliberately created the JNU issue to dilute the protests of various student organisations,” Naga said.

When asked about his disappearance from campus after the Kanhaiya’s arrest, Naga refuted the allegations. 

“The behaviour of police after the February 9 incident was atrocious. Some male police officers even raided girls’ hostels. There was palpable tension on the campus. We were forced to stay in a safe location as a result of that and I have never applied for anticipatory bail,” he said.

“A section of the political class, who have been imposing restrictions on our food habits and religious beliefs, are claiming themselves to be nationalists, whereas a group of students who decided to initiate a debate against capital punishment were labelled anti-national. We would continue to air our voices against such atrocities,” said Naga.   

Naga passed his intermediate at Boipariguda College and joined Vikram Dev Autonomous College in Jeypore from where he completed his graduation in political science in 2012 before moving to JNU to pursue MA. 

He was elected as general secretary of the students’ union last year on an All-India Students’ Association ticket.