News
Belgium: In Solidarity With JNU
A demonstration was organized in Antwerp on 4th March in solidarity with the protesting students of JNU and the jailed student activist leaders in India. People from multiple ethnicities and backgrounds, from Indians, Pakistanis, Kashmiris, Sri Lankans to Belgians, demonstrated against repression of students and their democratic voices by the right-wing BJP-led government in India. The comrades participated in the protest in spite of heavy rains in Belgium. The protest was supported by LSP, Tamil Solidarity, and progressive Kashmiris.
The repression of students in JNU by the communal forces of the BJP-RSS is a continuation of the BJP-RSS attack on secular, progressive and democratic elements in the country. The jailing of JNU students was preceded just weeks earlier by the murder by suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula by the HCU administration at the behest of the HRD ministry. The past 20 months of the BJP government has seen protests from people all over India – farmers (against land ordinance bill and continuing agrarian crisis), workers (against neoliberal policies), students (against cuts in education and crushing of dissent), and secular forces (against communal attacks).