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 for Union home minister Amit Shah’s resignation, Uddhav said politics can wait and the priority should be to 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 (what took place at) JNU to happen in Maharashtra,” the Shiv Sena leader told reporters in Mumbai, adding that students in Maharashtra were safe and he wouldn’t tolerate any move to hurt them.
Uddhav described the masked attackers at JNU as “cowards” and said their identities should be revealed. “If Delhi police fail to find out the perpetrators of the attack, then they will also be in the dock,” he said.
Asked about demands for Shah’s resignation, he 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 here 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 at 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 police who conducted a flag march.
At least 28 people, including the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president, Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.
Eyewitnesses alleged the attackers entered the premises and assaulted students and professors when a meeting was being held by the JNU Teachers’ Association over violence on the campus.
The attackers also barged into three hostels. Video footage aired by some TV channels showed a group of men brandishing hockey sticks and rods moving around a building.
The Left-controlled JNUSU and the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad blamed each other for the incident.
