JNU Students Plan March For Rohith Act, UGC Equity Norms: Govt Sends Bomb Squad, Sniffer Dogs, Forces
New Delhi: The students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) expected on the night of February 25 to march to the Ministry of Education the following morning. But by 10 pm on Wednesday night, the scenario had completely changed. "Delhi government started sending forces to the university last night," says Aditi Mishra, the JNU students' union president, who has been mobilising students for the march, referred to as 'The Long March'.
Mishra told The Wire she started receiving messages from students on the previous night (February 25), telling her that police had started assembling at various entry points to the university.
"This morning, the ACP came by too, in a van, and he told us, the students and union leaders – bahar mat nikalna – don't go outside the university," Mishra says.
By afternoon on February 26, Mishra said, 300 to 400 police and other forces were stationed at the university gates. "They have put up barricades, a bomb van came, they brought [sniffer] dogs with them," she said.
The security presence includes members of the RAF, or Rapid Action Force, a specialised force under the Central Reserve Police Force, meant to tackle crowds and handle riot-like situations.
Delhi Police stationed at the JNU main gate in Delhi on the day the students had planned a protest march to the Ministry of Education, seeking restoration of UGC's rule-based code against caste and gender discrimination on higher education campuses. Photo: By arrangement.
According to students, all of the force mobilisation happened before the march could even begin. The students had planned their march to the ministry in order to press four primary demands: implement the Rohith Act, remove JNU's vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit who recently made disparaging remarks about backward class and Dalit mobilisations demanding rights ("permanent victimhood"), opposing fund cuts at the university, and demanding the government restores the University Grants Commission equity regulations.
The UGC equity regulations were recently put on hold by the Supreme Court, which noted that some of its provisions could divide society. The regulations were put in place under the court's earlier guidance, in order to ensure equal access and opportunities to students in higher educational institutions, regardless of caste or gender identity. The regulations sought to institutionalise an anti-discrimination code on campuses, which sparked protests from elite caste students, professionals, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, government officials and others who opposed the idea of equity based on standardised norms.
The matter went to court, which ordered a stay on their implementation, sparking counter-protests, such as the one planned by JNU students on Thursday.
"I am not afraid of the police and RAF presence," says Mishra, adding, "but JNU has many students, some very young, who are indeed scared on seeing such a large force at the gates." She said the JNU administration has, in the meantime, "been busy filing FIRs against students". At the time of speaking to her, the protest had not been called off.
The students had planned to march peacefully from Ber Sarai (a locality in Delhi next to the university) to the Ministry of Education to bring attention to their demands.
Caste and gender discrimination have been a persistent problem on higher-education campuses, resulting in scores of deaths, mostly of Dalit students, especially those enrolled in professional colleges and universities. These deaths and reports of caste/gender based "ragging" on campuses led to demands for equity regulations, ultimately passed in 2022 and revised in 2026.
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