Congress MP backs hunger strike by DU students, says VC must apologise

Congress MP Deepender Hooda on Tuesday, 4 August, visited the satyagraha protest site at DU and extended support to Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) vice-president Rahul Jhansla and five other students who have been on an indefinite hunger strike in support of their demands.

The protest entered its ninth day on Tuesday, while the hunger strike entered its seventh day.

Addressing students at the protest site, Hooda criticised the university administration and alleged that students were intimidated through a post on social media platform X that, according to him, falsely invoked the Supreme Court to discourage participation in a student protest at Jantar Mantar.

"I am myself a law alumnus of this university. The Supreme Court never issued any advisory authorising the university administration to stop students from attending the student protest at Jantar Mantar. Students were intimidated through a post on X that spread lies in the name of the Supreme Court. For this, the Vice-Chancellor must apologise," Hooda said.

The Rohtak MP also alleged attempts to "saffronise" the university and said educational institutions should not be politicised in the name of any political party.

Praising Jhansla, Hooda said he would raise the issue in Parliament through an adjournment motion.

"Parliament is proud of Rahul Jhansla. Tomorrow, in the Lok Sabha, I will raise this issue alongside Congress MPs through an adjournment motion. In the motion where Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's name previously appeared, I will now include the name of DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh," he said.

Jhansla said the protest site on the DU campus had become the "Jantar Mantar of Delhi University" and urged students to join the agitation.

According to a statement issued by Jhansla, a day before Hooda's visit, Delhi University Registrar, Proctor and other officials met the protesters and said that the vice-chancellor, "as a well-wisher and guardian", had only appealed to students not to participate in the protest at Jantar Mantar.

However, the protesters maintained that the X post had threatened students and falsely cited Supreme Court directions to discourage participation in the demonstration. They reiterated their demand that Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh apologise for the post.

The protesters further alleged that while university officials had met them and offered assurances during Monday's interaction, the vice-chancellor had neither initiated direct talks nor issued any clarification on X regarding the Satyagraha. They said the agitation would continue until their demands were accepted.

(With agency inputs)