Alleged anti-India comments by professor spark trouble

KOLKATA - Trouble brewed at a seminar here Saturday after activists of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) youth wing created a ruckus over alleged anti-India comments by Prof Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani at the Jadavpur University.

While the BJP’s youth wing workers alleged they were beaten up, the seminar organisers pro-naxalite United Students’ Democratic Front (USDF) claimed the BJP activists had tried to disrupt the seminar by resorting to violence.

Geelani, the chief speaker at the seminar, is a Delhi University professor who was one of the prime accused in the 2001 terror attack on parliament and was sentenced to death by the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court. However, he was later acquitted of all charges by a higher Court.

“It was an open-to-all seminar. So we went there. But at the seminar Geelani was making anti-India comments and false statements about Kashmir. He was also spreading lies about the Indian Army,” said Amitava Ray, a leader of BJP’s youth wing.

The topic of the seminar was ‘Kashmir: Azadi, the only way forward’.

“We protested against the anti-India comments. At that time, members of the USDF started beating us. Four of our activists are seriously injured,” Ray added.

But the USDF activists slammed the BJP youth activist for creating trouble.

“The BJP activists tried to disrupt the seminar. They started beating up people in the seminar,” said Lokeshwari Dasgupta, a USDF leader.

She also denied that Geelani had said that India was “spreading lies” about the Kashmir situation.