Fringe elements responsible for anti-national slogans: Jadavpur VC

Kolkata, Feb 17:  A day after anti-national slogans echoed in a rally at Jadavpur University, vice chancellor Suranjan Das on Wednesday claimed certain “fringe elements” had indulged in such sloganeering.

He said such slogans by fringe elements were “insignificant.”

“Some individuals had convened the rally. That rally was not officially convened by the students’ union. They have told me,” Das told media persons here.

“I have seen in the media that a large section of students who were present in the rally, including some of the office bearers of the students union, have unequivocally said they have completely disassociated from these anti-national slogans. They are not supporting it,” added Das.

Amid the row over anti-India slogans being raised at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, slogans eulogising parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru and demands for “azadi” echoed in Jadavpur University here on Tuesday.

Das said: “If in a rally some fringe elements have given certain slogans then that is inconsequential. If some fringe elements have given such slogans then condemning the entire student body and maligning the image of the varsity is also unexpected and inconsequential.”

The context in which they had rallied was to show solidarity with students nation-wide for the right to express themselves, clarified Das.

At the rally in Jadavpur, students 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 of India in Delhi.

Another slogan heard was: “Jo ishrat ne manga, azadi/Jo Manipur mange azadi/To Chheen ke lenge, azadi”.

Thane collegian Ishrat Jahan was shot dead in an alleged shootout in 2004 with Gujarat Police, who dubbed her as a terrorist.

Pakistani-American terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley recently claimed in his testimony that Ishrat was a Lashkar-e-Taiba member and hinted that she could be a potential suicide bomber.  (IANS)