Uddhav Thackeray: JNU violence reminds me of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack

Protests at Gateway of India. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday compared the JNU violence with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and said students were feeling "unsafe" in the country.

Amid demands of resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in view of the violence, Thackeray said politics over it can wait and the priority should be to bring take strict action against the attackers.

"The attack on JNU students on Sunday night reminded me of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Students are feeling unsafe in the country. I will not allow anything like JNU to happen in Maharashtra," he told reporters.

Asserting that students in Maharashtra were safe, Thackeray said he will not tolerate any move to hurt them. Terming the masked attackers at JNU as "cowards", he said their identity should be revealed.

"If Delhi Police fail to find out perpetrators of the attack, then they will also be in the dock," he said.
Asked about demands for Amit Shah's resignation, Thackeray said, "The priority should be to bring the assailants to justice...politics over it can wait." To a query on protests by students at the Gateway of India against the JNU violence, the chief minister said, "I understand their rage. I am also equally unhappy with what has happened in JNU."

Violence broke out in JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in the police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours. Eyewitnesses alleged that the attackers entered the premises when a meeting was being held by JNU Teachers' Association over the issue of violence on the campus and assaulted students and professors. They also barged into three
hostels.

Video footage aired by some TV channels showed a group of men, who were brandishing hockey sticks and rods, moving around a building. The Left-controlled JNUSU and the RSS-backed Akhil
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) blamed each other for the incident.

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