On 17 February, Pradeep Narwal, the joint secretary of ABVP's JNU unit, quit the student outfit and wrote a long Facebook post condemning the arrest of JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges. Along with him, two other ABVP leaders resigned from their respective posts.
"Whosoever responsible for that act must be punished as per the law but the way NDA government tackling the whole issue, the oppression on Professors, repeated lawyer attacks on Media and Kanhaiya Kumar in court premises is unjustifiable and we think there is a difference between interrogation and crushing ideology and branding entire left as Anti-national," they had written in their post.
If ABVP had been hoping that the dust will settle quickly on the news of one of their own flaying them, here's some bad news for them. In a new video, Narwal is seen addressing a gathering at JNU and brutally criticising his former party and its parent party BJP.
He begins with saying, "A few days back I was in the ABVP, now I am standing here." His opening line itself is met with loud applause. He then goes on to refer to what several BJP leaders have been saying about Muslims. "I read in a newspaper that four BJP leaders have said Muslims should be killed. I just want to tell them, if your nationalism doesn't include the 20 crore Muslims of the country, I don't want to believe in your nationalism."
And before the loud cheer could even die down, he delivers another stinger. Referring to the Rajasthan BJP leader Gyandev Ahuja's statement that people dance naked in JNU and 3000 condoms and beer bottles are found in the campus daily, Narwal says, "This BJP leader said, 3000 condoms are found in JNU everyday. What kind of a comment is that? If your nationalism doesn't include respect for our women and our peers, I don't agree with your nationalism."
He then goes on to label the current government traitors and says that a government which polarises people for their own political gains, they are the biggest traitors.
"We have reached a point where people are ready to kill for the sake of the national flag. And these are the same people who demand that JNU be shut down. No one is a bigger traitor than them," he says.
He then makes an important point about jingoism. He says that shouting 'Vande Mataram' doesn't make someone a nationalist. "As long as you care for the country and its people, you are a patriot."
And finally, he chants the same slogans that JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar had chanted in a fiery speech before he was arrested. The same speech that had been allegedly distorted to suggest that Kanhaiya had chanted 'anti-India slogans'.
"Hum kya mangte? Azaadi! (What do we demand? Freedom."
He then demands for freedom from Brahmanical oppression, from poverty, from communalism.
"Lal salaam waale, Vande Mataram waale, Jai Bheem wale, sab rashtravadi hai. (People who shout red salute, who sing vande Mataram, who chant Jai Bheem, everyone is a nationalist for me)," he says as the crowd breaks into loud applause.
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