The ongoing protests of JNU since the last 21 days seem to be getting more and more intense by the day. Hashtags like #JNUBachao and #JNUProtests have taken over social media. Now, the ongoing protests are seen heating the environment of Delhi politics.
Last Wednesday, the administration reviewed the hostel fee structure and changes were reserved for the students coming under BPL (Below Poverty Line) and EWS (Economic Weaker Sections).According to the administration, the students falling under these categories will be required to pay 50% of the revised room rent while the service charge will remain ₹1,700 and the refundable security deposit was reduced to ₹5,500 per annum from ₹12,000. But what remained unclear was the category of students who would be a part of this. The MHRD had asked JNU to provide finer details while the administration of JNU demands to go by the government defination.
But nothing seems to resolve the issue, the rollback failed to fullfill the demands of JNU students and thus, they dubbed this as an “eyewash”. Objectionable messages were printed on the walls of administration block for the V.C.,messages directed towards the right wing parties were imposed on the unveiled statue of Swami Vivekananda.
As the winter session of Parliament was decided to be held from 18 November, the JNU students decided to begin their March towards the Parliament from its very first day. However, JNU announced to conduct its monsoon end semester exam from December 12 to 20 in order to disperse the protesters.
As the protest was planned to be held on Monday, the Delhi police increased the security arrangement around the university campus. In order to maintain the law & order, Section 144Â was imposed outside the campus. However, nothing stopped the crowd and the march began by mid noon. The police tried stopping the march at Ber Sarai and many protestors were retained but the students kept moving towards the Parliament.
Later, the HRD secretary R. Subrahmanyam shared the details of a committee to be set up as a mediator between the students and the administration. He tweeted that Prof. V.S.Chauhan the former Chairman of UGC, Prof. Anil Sahsrabudhe, Chairman of AICTE and Prof. Rajnish Jain, the Secretary of UGC will be the part of the committee for peaceful resolution of all issues.
The gates of Delhi Metro were temporarily blocked at Central Secretariat, Patel Chowk, Udyog Bhawan, Lok Kalyan Marg and Later Jor Bagh. Heavy traffic was also witnessed in several areas like Moti Bagh AIIMS, Safderjung Road and Aurobindo Marg.
50 students were detained in the day. After being unable to reach out to the Parliament, the protests came to an end at around 7p.m.
