Rupsha Mukherjee

Fardin Khurshid

A student who hails from Srinagar, a professor from Presidency University, a group of men and women who stage plays across the city, a young lawyer and students from various universities and colleges were among the thousands who gathered near College Street and took part in various rallies to protest against the attack on students and faculty members of Jawaharlal Nehru University

Pradip Basu

Madhura Sen

Curbing students’ rights

Rupsha Mukherjee, an alumna of Presidency University now pursuing a postgraduate course at Pondicherry University

What happened in JNU on Sunday was horrific. How can a government use its system to assault varsity students? I know how the BJP is curbing students’ rights in all universities. At Pondicherry University, the students wanted to boycott the convocation this year. Police there tried to enter the campus to curb students’ protests, but it was resisted.

Campus sanctity violated

Madhura Sen, PhD student of Calcutta University who took part in several rallies

We know that the campus is sacrosanct and a place where we feel safe. Goons ran amok inside the JNU campus, beating up students and teachers at will. Nobody stopped them. There is no guarantee that the same thing will not happen at Calcutta University or elsewhere. Everyone needs to come out of their homes and hit the streets to protest.

Echo of Kashmir

Fardin Khurshid, third-year history student, Jadavpur University, who hails from Srinagar

I am familiar with the sight of jackboots and batons in Kashmir. Similar scenes are unfolding on university campuses across the country. This attempt to muzzle dissent and crush our voices will be extremely counterproductive for us as a nation and we cannot let it happen.

Total fascist attack

Pradip Basu, the dean of humanities and social sciences, at Presidency University's political science department

The planned attack on JNU students and teachers was a barbaric one executed by a total fascist system out to scuttle voices of dissent. I am a very timid man but the brutality of the attack carried out by lathi-wielding men who had covered their faces like cowards prompted someone like me to hit the streets.