Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday equated the police crackdown on students in Delhi with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre perpetrated by the British. Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Uddhav said the incident reminds him about the April 13, 1919, massacre when Britishers had opened fire at unarmed civilians inside a park in Amritsar.
“What happened at Jamia Millia Islamia, is like Jallianwala Bagh. Students are like a ‘Yuva bomb’. So we request the central government to not do what they are doing with students,” he said.
His remark comes two days after the protest at Jamia Millia Islamia University in Jamia Nagar of Delhi took a violent turn when protesting people torched public buses and pelted stones. Police had to fire teargas shells to control the unruly crowd.
There were allegations that police entered inside the Jamia Millia University campus without permission and opened fire. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that no bullet was fired from the police on Sunday.
“Over 20 cars and four-wheelers set on fire, 67 people injured including students and other miscreants, and 31 police personnel were injured. But not one student has been arrested,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court. The top court was hearing a bunch of petitions against the police action against students of Jamia and Aligarh Muslim University students.
The top court, refusing direct intervention in the matter, referred the petitioners to high courts. A plea to restrain the police from coercive action against protesters was also refused. The court said the police had the authority to do as it sees fit to control any untoward situation.