Tensions between Kashmiri and outstation students kept the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar on the boil as outstation students — protesting the >“celebrations” by some local students of India’s T-20 cricket loss to West Indies on March 3 — refused to cooperate with a >team of the Ministry of Human Resource Development that visited the campus on Wednesday.
A day after they were lathi-charged by the police while protesting with placards, the outstation students demanded action against those NIT officials who, they said, had indulged in “anti-national” activities. They insisted that they be allowed to hoist the national tricolour every day before the main gate of the institute.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh and HRD Minister Smriti Irani spoke to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, >who is said to have assured them of the safety of outstation students .
Incidentally, during the >JNU crisis , Ms. Mufti had sent emissaries to Delhi to ask the Centre to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students.
The flare-up is now emerging as a >test for the new government of the PDP and the BJP , allies who are together despite having little in common in their approach to the Kashmir issue.
It also brings the Centre face to face with yet another impasse on “nationalism” after the student unrest in Jawaharlal Nehru University and the >University of Hyderabad .
The roots of the crisis go back to alleged celebrations by Kashmiri students of India’s T20 loss, leading to a confrontation on April 1 with outstation students, who waved the tricolour.
They tried to hoist the tricolour near the institute’s administrative block and also chanted Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistan Murdabad.
The administration tried to cool tempers and classes resumed on April 4 amid police and CRPF deployment. But the police action of April 5 shattered the fragile peace.
“HRD officials have reached the campus and will stay there till the exams are over. We are in touch with the students as well as the parents. If the students have any apprehensions regarding their marking or exams, that will be looked into,” said Ms. Irani. Protesting outstation students have been demanding postponement of exams starting April 11, and action against police and NIT officials for their alleged highhandedness and harassment. Several students also demanded shifting of the NIT outside J&K.
(Police and CRPF personnel deployed on the NIT campus in Srinagar on Wednesday. Photo: PTI)
Reaching out to the >outstation students , State Education Minister Nayeem Akhtar said, “Even at the height of militancy no harm came to them. We assure them that they will not be touched. A Senior Superintendent of Police [SSP] is camping there. These students are like our own wards.”
NIT Registrar Fayaz Mir said, “There was thin attendance in the classes on Wednesday. Protesting students had raised issues about their security and exams with us. We have already given them assurances.”
Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani has also appealed to the local students “to treat outstation students as their guests and avert any harm to them.”
In Jammu, worried parents took out demonstrations against the PDP-BJP government and demanded action against “anti-nationals on the campus.”
Omar takes a dig at CM
Rushing in a team from HRD ministry coupled with the CRPF replacing J&K police speaks volumes about Delhi's confidence in Mehbooba Mufti.
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) >April 6, 2016
Cool heads need to prevail, tactful handling is the order of the day. Let the state government handle >#NIT issue without back seat drivers.
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) >April 6, 2016
Former Chief Minister and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah said that an HRD team rushing to NIT and the replacement of State police with the CRPF “hinted at the Centre’s lack of confidence in CM Mufti.” He called for “tactful handling.” “The State government should look into it without back seat drivers,” wrote Mr. Abdullah on Twitter .
