Controversy over Sunday’s violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University comes as a new challenge to the government as it confronts major nationwide protests against a new citizenship bill that critics say is anti-Muslim.
Scores of riot police on Monday patrolled the university – the alma mater of several key ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet – picking their way past shattered glass and broken doors and furniture. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party denied claims by the opposition Congress that it was responsible, and in turn blamed left-leaning student groups which dominate the university’s politics.
The unrest comes as nationwide protests continue against a citizenship law passed in December that bars Muslims from a measure granting nationality to minorities from three neighbouring Islamic-majority countries.