JNU Violence: Who Are The Masked Men?

New Delhi: The violence unleashed by masked hooligans in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) left more than 20 injured. These included some faculty members and JNU Students' Union president, Aishe Ghosh. The masked goons carrying rods and sticks, also vandalised University property. As anarchy was let loose on the campus for more than two hours, the injured students and teachers were taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Who were these masked goons who wreaked havoc on Sunday evening for such a long time? A massive political blame-game erupted over the violence with the opposition parties blaming the Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP)and its parent party, BJP, while the latter blamed students aligned to the Left parties.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked the Delhi police commissioner to inquire into the incidents of violence. The probe will no doubt reveal the identity of the perpetrators of this pre-planned attack.

The HRD ministry has also sought a report from the Delhi police and JNU administration.

Were the Centre and Delhi police caught napping? Shouldn't they have anticipated a violent turn of events to the ongoing developments in JNU? On Friday, the JNU administration had alleged that a group of students wearing masks in an attempt to block the semester exam registration process, had forcibly switched off power supply to render "servers dysfunctional." Student groups have been protesting against the hike in hostel fees over the last two months. They had called for a boycott of the registration process leading to tension between two groups of students, with the ABVP backing those seeking to register.

Shouldn't the Delhi police and allied agencies have kept a closer tab on the pro and anti- registration process groups? This appears to be at the root of the JNU violence on Sunday evening.

All these developments come in the backdrop of widespread protests on college and university campuses against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).