The Punjab Congress condemned the police crackdown on students of Punjab University, Chandigarh, who were holding demonstrations in support of their various demands.
State Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Waring and Opposition Leader Partap Singh Bajwa also strongly objected to Haryana Police personnel roaming Mohali to prevent protesters from reaching Chandigarh. The two leaders stressed, “This is unacceptable because they have violated the mandate of Punjab.”
In a statement issued here on Monday, Waring referred to the “brutal use” of force by the Chandigarh Police with the help of their counterparts in Haryana to prevent them from reaching the university campus. The CPI(M) chief said that it seems that the central government, the Chandigarh administration and the UNM administration do not understand the serious sensitivity of the situation.
“Do not consider it a routine or informal administrative matter,” Waring warned, adding that “the people of Punjab have strong feelings associated with the University of the Punjab dating back to Lahore in the 19th century when it was founded there.”
“First, the central government took unnecessary and unjustified action to abolish the Senate and the union, and now it is avoiding elections, and when students demanded specific timetables for elections, they were brutalized.”
The Punjab Congress president expressed full solidarity with the students seeking the Senate election schedule. This becomes more important as the BJP government at the Center is known to backpedal and go back on its promises, Waring said.
He added: “We not only support the peaceful student demonstration in support of their demand, but we also seek to set a specific timetable for announcing the Senate elections in the Federation.”
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Referring to media photographs of some Haryana Police personnel seen inside Punjab borders in Mohali, Waring said, “This is an infringement of the jurisdiction of Punjab Police, which must be strongly resisted.” He said that the Punjab government should lodge a formal protest with the Haryana government over this violation of the territorial jurisdiction of Punjab.
Bajwa said he was “deeply saddened” by the horrific police brutality unleashed on peaceful students at PU.
“The students’ protest stems from a real fear that the central government is trying to strip Punjab of its historic university. The voice of the youth cannot be silenced. Congress stands firmly with them in this fight for justice and dignity,” Bajwa said in a statement on X.
(Tags for translation)Punjab Congress
