A long rally comprising two-wheelers, cars and trucks was organised on the JNU campus on Wednesday morning demanding the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya at the Ramjanmabhoomi site
New Delhi: The latest phase of saffron agitation for a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is now catching up with the red-dominated Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the left-liberal crowds are squirming in anger.
A long rally of two-wheelers, cars and trucks was organised on the JNU campus on Wednesday morning demanding the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya at the Ramjanmabhoomi site.
The rally was organised under the aegis of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, but according to sources, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was the inspiration behind it.
The rally was part of the VHP’s efforts to mobilise public opinion in favour of a Ram temple in Ayodhya through the ‘Shri Ram Mandir Sankalp Rath Yatra’ that has been going on since December 1 and would culminate on December 9 in New Delhi in a mega religious gathering or ‘dharma sabha’.
The sabha would be taking the last call on how to expedite the construction of the temple.
VHP international joint general secretary Surendra Jain reacted sharply to criticism from the left-dominated JNU students’ union (JNUSU), which called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists participating in the rally as “criminals” and accused the vice-chancellor of turning the campus into an RSS ‘shakha’.
“It is their character to defend anti-nationalism and oppose nationalist activities. JNU is the campus where army men were beaten. This is the same ‘tukde-tukde’ brigade who had called for the disintegration of India. The youth of this country are restive and the current winds of nationalism will overwhelm JNU too,” Jain said.
Meanwhile, JNUSU general secretary Aejaz Ahmad Rather condemned the JNU administration for the rally. “We will not let Sangh destroy the secular fabric of this university and this country.
"In an extremely shocking manner, the JNU administration allowed the RSS pracharaks and sevaks to carry out a rally inside the JNU campus campaigning for the Ram mandir. It is shameful that the Jagadesh Kumar administration has turned a secular and democratic campus to a sakha of RSS,” Rather said in a release.
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