Now, Jadavpur varsity students raise pro-Afzal and 'azadi' slogans

Kolkata, Feb 16 (IANS) Amid the row over anti-India slogans at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, slogans eulogising parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru and demands for "azadi" echoed in Jadavpur University here on Tuesday.

Slogans like "Afzal bole azadi, jab tum na doge azadi, to cheen lenge azadi, arey cheen ke lenge azadi" were heard during a torchlight procession brought out at Jadavpur University in protest against the "atrocities" perpetrated on JNU students by the Narendra Modi government.

They also raised slogans chanting the names of S.A.R. Geelani, a former professor of Delhi University who was arrested on Tuesday for raising anti-India slogans at the Press Club in Delhi.

The rally, convened by students unions of the three faculties -- science, arts and engineering -- of Jadavpur University in the campus, was well attended.

The students also spoke out against the arrest of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, and the "ill-treatment" meted out to Hyderabad University Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula that "forced him to take his own life".

All India Students Association (AISA) leader Anumita Mitra justified the slogans saying these only questioned the lack of transparency in Afzal's trial and his subsequent death penalty.

"The slogans demand azadi from making Indian laws like khap panchayat.

"If slogans protesting against the branding of scholars like Rohith Vemula as anti-national and terrorist by the Modi government for challenging cast exploitation are anti-national, then we are all anti-nationals," said Mitra, a third year student.