‘Not a Naxalite’: JU Student Responds to Babul Supriyo’s Tweet

Babul Supriyo (left) and Pawan Shukla.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Pawan Shukla, a first-year postgraduate student at Jadavpur University, who was allegedly assaulted by a 'Jai Shri Ram'-chanting mob right outside his university campus, responded to Union Minister Babul Supriyo’s tweet calling him a naxalite, on Friday, 20 September.

“I am not a naxalite, I’m an ordinary JU student who has come here to study. I was protesting because you are wrong.”

Pawan Shukla

Supriyo, in his tweet which includes a video of Shukla, has accused him of inciting violence.

“Identify this Naxalite. Is he a JU student? Even if it’s a yes, he has no business inciting a mob in the manner in which he did,” he wrote.

“You say that opposition should be kept alive... This was the opposition that was opposing you. The democracy that you’re talking about, this is that democracy,” said Shukla.

“You’re just exciting your thugs to get them to beat up and intimidate people.”

Pawan Shukla

“Even if you try to intimidate us, our voices won’t quieten. If you tag us as naxalites, we will become naxalites... that’s not how it works,” he added.

On Thursday, Babul Supriyo was shown black flags and allegedly heckled by students of left-leaning organisations at JU where he had come to attend a seminar organised by ABVP.

The incident prompted West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to rush to JU along with a large police force.

Later, the BJP took out its own rally to protest against the heckling.