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Students of Ram Lal Anand College (RLAC) condemned guest speaker Balbir Punj regarding the statements made during his most recent address at the College’s seminar last Friday. 

The students of RLAC have released a statement condemning Balbir Punj and the stances he took as a guest speaker during a seminar held on 17th January 2020. Punj, an ex-MP from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was present at the seminar as a guest speaker. According to the released statement, when questioned regarding CAA and NRC, he could not address it.

In a seminar about CAA/NRC, minority institutions namely, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), St. Stephens, and Section 15 of the Constitution were attacked. At the beginning of the seminar, Punj allegedly refused to accept the existence of CAA and then proceeded to justify the act. According to the students, Punj reduced the student movement to ‘dog-whistle politics’, made communal arguments rather than exploring other aspects of the act, quoted Jinnah and made remarks about the minorities of other countries without addressing the problem of minorities in India. He did not address the active concerns of the students and addressed India as being made to originally be a religious and not a secular state. In the seminar, Punj also explained the notion of secularism, that he denies being a part of the Preamble, he goes on mentioning Article 29 and 30 of the Indian constitution which gives special and cultural rights to the minority communities which makes India a secular and pluralist country. Punj attacked the minority communities of Christians and Muslims, questioning the minority provisions being given to these communities under the guise of secularism.

“CAA/NRC/NPR cannot be understood in isolation. When Amit Shah himself explains the chronology of CAA and NRC, we should not forget this is an open attempt to reduce India’s minority to second class citizens. We should not forget that when our economy is facing the biggest slowdown in 10 years, high rates of unemployment, privatization of institutions, attack on universities to suppress dissent, increase in inflation etc CAA/NRC/NPR is a sword to divert attention from real issues.

While Mr Balbir Punj quoted Jinnah and mentioned Pakistan several times, we would like to quote Gandhi to you “I could not associate myself with the contention that India should drive out all its Muslim population to Pakistan as the Muslims of Pakistan were driving out all non-Muslims. Two wrongs cannot make one right”, 19 September 1947,” the statement read.

Balbir was also unable to answer any of the questions posed to him by the students present at the seminar. “Balbir Punj made all possible communal statements which are really dangerous for an educational institution. He attacked the idea of an inclusive India. He tried to mold data and history in all possible ways. The talk was a failure and the worst part was when I questioned him about citizenship of LGBTQ community as most of them are not in good terms with family so, obviously can’t produce documents and talked about situation of LGBTQ Community inside the campus, he smiled and responded in really shameful and insensitive way,” Deshdeep Dhankar, a student from RLAC who was present at the seminar, told DU Beat.

While, Gulshan Kumar, President, Students’ Union, said, “On our request sir delivered and lecture for around an hour and every single student of our college heard him very patiently. We also took feedbacks from the students. But it’s sad to say that some of the students who were not even present wanted to disturb the lecture. When the students were allowed to ask questions few students who follow the left ideology tried to disturb the atmosphere of the auditoriumand tried to manipulate the students.”
He further added, the Union’s comment on the same, “RLASU condemns such kind of action. The poster and banners were also pasted on the wall by the passout students of the college and this is not at all acceptable. The union is for the the Student’s of RLA and we are always committed to work for them. But the students union will not at all entertain the interest of outsiders.”

The ex-MP had come to the institution for a talk in favour of the CAA and NRC. The students of RLAC have condemned the talk, and called it “shameful, a failure, and a blatant spread of lies.”

 

Feature Image Credit: Shiksha

Shreya Juyal

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The students of Ram Lal Anand College (RLA) had organised a public meeting on the 14th of January 2020 against CAA-NRC-NPR which was allegedly disrupted by members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

On the 14th of January 2020, concerned students of the College had organised a public meeting outside the RLA gate. The event witnessed Sucheta De and Jitendra Meena as speakers. Manik Gupta, a second year student of History Honours from the College, and a member of All India Students’ Association (AISA) states that they had ensured to follow all the formalities, including getting permission from the Delhi Police.

He further goes on to describe how ABVP tried to disrupt the meeting, He says “Around an hour or half an hour before the public meeting, the President of our college who is affiliated with ABVP, Gulshan Kumar, started going class to class and telling people that the public meeting did not have any permissions and telling students that aap sabhi ko pitwana chahte hai ( They want you to get beaten up) and tried to discredit the public meeting.”

Manik also states that there were further attempts to derail the public meeting after it had begun. He states that during the meeting “South Campus ka saara ABVP aagaya” (All the ABVP members of South Campus came) and they started shouting slogans such as “DU ko JNU nahi banne denge” (We won’t let DU become JNU), “we support CAA”, and “ Delhi Police Zindabad”. He also states that that some ABVP members started disrupting the meeting by asking stupid questions to the speakers.

The organizers eventually had to tell Jitendra Meena to go back due to concerns over his safety because of the atmosphere of fear which had been created by the ABVP. The Public Meeting however still went on, despite the efforts of ABVP, with a preamble reading and singing of the National Anthem. Manik also alleges that he was threatened later by ABVP goons who told him “ab parcha bata toh peet denge” (We will beat you if you distribute pamphlets).

Siddharth Yadav, the State Secretary of  ABVP was reached out for comments, but he refused for the same, citing that he did not have full knowledge of the situation and will update DU Beat later.

Gulshan Kumar,  President of RLA Students’ Union stated on Manik’s claim “ From the morning Manik campaigned in classes and said it is a public meeting by the students. But they invited the national president of AISA. So it was just to fulfill the political agenda and misguide the students. I went into the classes to clarify that students union and the college administration is not involved in such kind of meeting. The students union wrote a letter to the SHO of South campus to maintain the peace. But by making the public meeting a political meeting the meeting was itself disrupted. Manik said the students of RLA were in the meeting and outsiders of ABVP came and disturbed the meeting but I have video evidence that students of RLA were in favour of CAA and the so called public meeting of AISA president was witnessed by outsiders.” He goes on to say that as an elected representative he believes in peaceful protests but his first responsibility is the safety of students. He also shows a letter as proof sent by the SU to the SHO to maintain peace on campus.

 

Feature Image credits: India TV

Prabhanu Kumar Das

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Police suspects it to be a case of suicide but no evidence including any suicide note has been found from the site.

A third-year student of Ram Lal Anand College was found hanging in his south Delhi residence at Nanakpur on Thursday, 30th May 2019 afternoon. Utkarsh Sharma, a 22 year old B.A. (Hons) Political Science student is suspected to have committed suicide though no conformity has been established and the police is still probing the incident.

Sharma used to live in a government quarter with his parents who were not in town at the time of the incident. His parents had left for their hometown in Uttar Pradesh when the incident took place. When his calls went unanswered, the worried parents asked Utkarsh’s brother living in Palam to reach him. As he reached his house in Nanakpur, he found his brother death. Utkarsh  further informed Devendra Arya, DCP of South Delhi. He said that an inquest proceeding under Section 174 of the CRPC has been initiated to investigate the case.

As the President of Ram Lal Anand College, Utkarsh was quite known amongst his colleagues and mentors.  His principal, Rakesh Kumar Gupta remembers him as a smiling student. “I came to know about it. He was a good student and I had spoken to him around 21st or 22nd May. He had told me his exams went well. He always had a smiling face,” Mr Gupta told the Press Trust of India.

Utkarsh’s semester exams ended on 21st May 2019. He apparently last interacted with his college friends around the same time. Minali Gupta, the Vice President of the Student Union of Ram Lal Anand College told that she last met him on 21st May and is in a state of shock with his untimely demise.

 

Featuere Image Credits: Facebook and DU Beat

(With inputs from NDTV)

Priyanshu

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In an incident that shocked the campus, around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a 3rd year student of English Hons. studying at Ram Lal Anand College in South Campus was allegedly molested by a sweeper. The student had gone to the washroom when the accused, an employee of Sulabh International, allegedly held her hand and pulled her towards himself. The girl raised an alarm which brought students and two teachers on the scene, including the head of the Disciplinary Committee, Dr. K.G. Tyagi. The accused was immediately handed over to the police.

An FIR was registered against the accused at the South Campus Police station under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 341 (punishment for wrongful restrain), and 323 (punishment for causing hurt) immediately. A court hearing was put for the case at 2 p.m. today. Since the victim was giving an exam today, her statement will be recorded tomorrow.

It was found that the employee was not wearing an ID and was neither wearing a uniform. Rishabh Jain, Central Councilor of Ram Lal Anand College, speaking to DU Beat said, “We had been unaware that these people were allowed entry into the college without IDs. They had just a uniform and a register where they put in their entry and exit times. Now, the Delhi Police has issued a notice that valid IDs would be provided to all Sulabh employees in all Delhi University Colleges after our demands today.”

In the said meeting, Mahamedhaa Nagar, Secretary of DUSU and Uma Shankar, Joint-Secretary of DUSU along with members of the Ram Lal Anand student Union, Shivam Rana (the President), Vikalp Choudhury (Joint Secretary), and Rishabh Jain (Central Councilor of DUSU) met with the Principal, Dr. Rakesh Kumar Gupta in the presence of the victim’s father and Inspector Anant Kumar Gunjan, SHO and two other officers from South Campus Police Station. The students demanded that the license of the contractor of the college’s Sulabh International should be revoked and IDs issued to all verified Sulabh employees along with the police verification of such IDs. The students also demanded that the accused be charged with attempt to rape under IPC section 375. The Principal and the Police have agreed with the demands and the Principal has already sent a show cause notice to the contractor of Sulabh International at the college.

The ABVP and the DUSU had originally planned a protest on Wednesday which was withdrawn after their demands were accepted by the college. Speaking to DU Beat, Shivam Rana said, “We were satisfied with the help provided by the college authorities. Even the victim’s father was more than satisfied. Hence, we decided to cancel the protest.”

 

Feature Image Credits: India T.V

Sara Sohail

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