Watch the JNUSU vice-president defend students from charges of wasting taxpayers' money
Shehla Rashid broke her silence on the issue with a fiery speech late on Sunday night.
Over the past few days, Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in Delhi has turned into a galvanised flashpoint of student activism and demonstrations as people protest the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, president of the students' union of the university, on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy.
On Sunday, the campus saw one of the largest human chains in recent years when more than a thousand people turned up to join hands and line up across the university to protest against police action. This comes in the aftermath of allegations that "anti-national" and "divisive" slogans were raised here on February 9 during an event that saw discussions on the hanging of Afzal Guru and the right of Kashmiri people to self-determine their political future.
As police raids continue in areas surrounding the campus to track down other students named in the First Information Report filed by the Delhi Police, Sunday saw JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid breaking her silence on the issue with a fiery speech late in the night.
Addressing hundreds of students and activists gathered around her, Rashid spoke of the agitation that will "continue until the witchhunt at JNU stops".
The video above shows parts of her address where she opposes the allegation that JNU students are wasting taxpayers' money by indulging in "anti-national" activities.
"Sanghi trolls say that we should be ashamed of doing activism because we study on taxpayers' money," she said. "Yes, we survive on that money but we are fully aware of responsibility. We don't live on Adani's money or their helicopters and worship corporate lords. We are the taxpayers of this country and our tax is being doled out to bankrupt banks and corporations by the government of this country."
"The government of this country is conspiring to sell this nation to companies," she said.