Behind Campus Attack in India, Some See a Far-Right Agenda

For decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party and its affiliates have struggled to control one of India’s most fertile ideological recruiting grounds: university campuses. That project erupted in violence last weekend, as masked men and women stormed the New Delhi campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, one of India’s premier liberal institutions.

Witnesses said police officers stood by as students were attacked with rods and bricks. Some assailants shouted slogans associated with Mr. Modi’s governing party and its parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or R.S.S., which for decades has aspired to turn India into a Hindu nation.

“They pelted stones at us, stones half the size of bricks,” said Sucharita Sen, a geography professor, who was struck in the head and needed stitches. She was bleeding profusely, she said, adding: “I saw the face of terror.”…

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/world/asia/india-jawaharlal-nehru-university-attack.html

SEE ALSO:

• JNU violence: ABVP member admitted on camera that he planned attack, claims India Today sting (Jan 10, 2020, Scroll.in)
  https://scroll.in/latest/949464/jnu-violence-abvp-member-admitted-on-camera-that-he-planned-attack-claims-india-today-sting
• Twitter trends #HindusRejectHindutva after Hindutva outfit takes responsibility for violent attack on JNU students (Jan 10, 2020, Free Press Journal)
  https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/twitter-trends-hindusrejecthindutva-after-hindutva-outfit-takes-responsibility-for-violent-attack-on-jnu-students
• Ahmedabad: After ‘Attack’, NSUI Activist Says Police Reluctant to Charge ABVP Leader (Jan 9, 2020, The Wire)
  https://thewire.in/rights/ahmedabad-nsui-abvp-police-pressure
• Police enters IIM-A campus, disrupts students’ event (Jan 5, 2020, Deccan Herald)
  https://www.deccanherald.com/national/west/police-enters-iim-a-campus-disrupts-students-event-791620.html