“Have you ever seen an anti-national? If not, look at me, I am an anti-national”: Dr. Binayak Sen thus began his speech at the Bharat Sabha Hall in Kolkata on 27 Febaruary, in a protest meeting organised by AIPF West Bengal in solidarity with student protests in Hyderabad, JNU and Jadavpur. Dr. Binayak Sen exposed the designs of the BJP government in Chhattisgarh and highlighted the fact that even after the High Court in Chhattisgarh had announced a sentence life imprisonment on his case, the Chhattisgarh government had appealed that he should be hanged to death becausehe was an “anti-national”! After a long legal battle, Dr. Binayak Sen was released by the Supreme Court. At the AIPF meeting, he made the crucial distinction between being anti-State and anti-national – a distinction which the RSS-BJP is aggressively undermining. He also pointed out that charges of “sedition” are aimed at stifling the voices of protest against the anti-people policies of the government. He called for the promulgation of a law against “anti-people”activities, to be used against all those who propagateanti-people policies.
Addressing this well-attended protest meeting AISA President Sucheta De said that struggling people all over the country are with JNU. She also mentioned that JNU has consistently exposed the corporate-fascist policies of the Modi government. And so, JNU was an eye sore for the Sangh Parivar and to be “punished” for consistently daring to oppose the RSS-BJP. Other speakers included Subhonil Chowdhury, alumni of JNU and Research Scholar of Institute of Development Studies, social activist Bolan Gangopadhyay, Advocate of Calcutta High Court Subroto Mukherjee, Secretary of APDR Rajnit Sur, Student of Jadavpur University (JU) Sudhanya Pal and Professor of JU Manas Ghosh.The meeting was presided over by Dr. Debasish Dutta, Meher Enginear, Amlan Bhattacharya of PUCL, AB Chowdhury and Kalyan Sen, A resolution demanding immediate release of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, repeal of Sedition Act, and withdrawal of all cases on JNU students was passed in this protest meeting.
