The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the indiscriminate arrests of Left and progressive student leaders, including the President of the JNU Students Union, from the JNU campus. It is reported that currently the police is conducting a combing operation in JNU and its hostels.
Police have raided hostels without any arrest warrant indiscriminately searching for student leaders. The presence of police in the campus and such indiscriminate arrests from hostels had last happened during the Emergency.
For nearly half a century, the student movement in JNU has had the impeccable record of upholding the unity and integrity of our country and rising in protests against any expression of anti-national terrorist activities.
An isolated incident, which does not reflect the opinion of the vast majority of the students, is now being blatantly used as an excuse to clamp down on the progressive and democratic student movement. This has been a long harboured design of the RSS and its camp followers. This anti-democratic authoritarian attack on JNU campus, seen in the light of State sponsored efforts by the BJP central government to silence dissent in premier educational institutions, has serious implications.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands the immediate release of those who have been arrested and ordering of a proper independent enquiry under the due process. The university authority must also stop such illegal and uncalled for action by the Delhi Police.