JNU sedition: BJYM activists protest near Kejri’s residence

New Delhi, September 7 

Members of BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Saturday staged a protest near Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence demanding him to give prosecution sanction in the 2016 JNU sedition case.

The Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha activists raised slogans against the Kejriwal government and tore down posters and banners outside the Chief Minister’s residence. They tried to move past a barricade near Kejriwal’s Flagstaff Road residence but were stopped by police and many of them were taken to a nearby police station. However, they were released later.

There were reports in newspapers that the AAP government had rejected permission for the prosecution of former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case, said BJYM’s Delhi unit president Sunil Yadav.

“Kejriwal should clarify if he sides with anti-nationals, who raised slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ in JNU. If not, he should give permission to prosecute the accused in the JNU sedition case of 2016,”  the BJYM’s Delhi unit president said.

On Friday, Kejriwal said the Delhi government had not yet taken any decision on the prosecution sanction against Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case. He, however, said the Home Department of the Delhi government would take an appropriate decision after taking all facts into consideration. The Chief Minister also rejected media reports on the issue as “speculation”.

The BJP has been trying to corner the AAP on the issue with the party’s Delhi unit president, Manoj Tiwari, alleging that the Kejriwal government felt the slogans raised at the university were “patriotic”.

“If an elected government supports a slogan like ‘Bharat ki barbadi tak jang rahegi jari’ and thinks that it does not involve any punishment then it means the government thinks of it as a patriotic slogan. The BJP condemns this stand of the AAP,” Tiwari said.

A city court has granted two months to the Delhi Police to secure the requisite sanctions to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the case. A chargesheet in the case was filed by the police in January this year. — PTI