North Campus witnessed two protest marches and a ‘Tiranga Rally’ on Wednesday.
Members of the Congress backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Left backed All India Students‚Äô Association (AISA) took out marches to condemn the Chandigarh stalking incident where State BJP President’s son was allegedly involved in stalking a 29 year old girl.The protesters also slammed the BJP for victim shaming.
On the other hand BJP backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held a ‚Äòtiranga rally‚Äô to celebrate 75 years of the Quit India Movement and to call for a safe campus for women.This was unofficially the launch of ABVP’s campaign for DUSU Elections 2017.
Promising to make campuses safer for women, the students’ body said it was confident of securing all four seats in the Delhi University Students’ Union election later this year.
“In a very shameful manner, Ramveer Bhatti, who is vice-president of the BJP’s Haryana unit, came up with a statement that blamed the complainant for ‘staying out so late in the night’. We believe that such instances of victim blaming are not only an attempt to justify the actions of those involved, but also amount to political shielding of the accused,” said an AISA activist.
Kawalpreet Kaur, president of AISA’s DU unit, said, “The statements that came from the BJP members show their patriarchal approach to sexual violence. The incident has not only exposed the empty rhetoric of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign,but also showed the BJP’s style of moral policing the victim.”
At the NSUI protest, a senior office-bearer said, “Independence from the British was not meant to turn into servitude to other organisations. The NSUI and DU stand with Varnika Kundu and her family. We will fight against those who, even after 70 years, are trying to restrict women.”
