'Urban Naxals' : Left-wing student groups raise anti-PM Modi, Shah slogans at JNU campus

New Delhi: Several Left-wing student organisations at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a gathering at the 'Guerrilla Dhaba' on the university campus.

The incident took place on Monday evening, shortly after the Supreme Court denied bail to former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots case.

Around 30 to 40 students affiliated with the Democratic Students' Federation (DSF), the All India Students' Association (AISA) and the Students' Federation of India (SFI) staged a protest, raising anti-government slogans at the campus.

Among the slogans shouted was "Modi-Shah ki kabra khudegi, JNU ki dharti par", which triggered sharp reactions from the BJP.

The sloganeering drew a sharp reaction from the BJP, which condemned the Left-wing groups and linked the protest to the denial of bail to Khalid and Imam.

BJP leaders described the protesters as part of what they termed the "tukde ecosystem" and labelled them "urban Naxals".

Taking to X, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "These slogans chanted by the Tukde ecosystem in JNU after Sharjeel Umar denied bail. This is an anti-India bunch of Urban Naxals... Votebank ke naam par Umar Sharjeel Bachao Gang kaam par."

Another BJP national spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, also condemned the incident through a social media post.

"Urban Naxals in support of anti-national Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam protested late at night in JNU outside Sabarmati Hostel. This is not a protest; this is appropriation of anti-India thought! Intellectual terrorists can be academics, doctors, or engineers," he said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have said that they have not received any complaints regarding the sloganeering at the JNU campus.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, "JNU has become a hub of the so-called 'tukde-tukde' gang, involving Rahul Gandhi, the TMC, Left parties, and other opposition forces. It has turned into a camp office of this group, and the country will not tolerate it."

IANS