New Delhi: A day after women’s day celebrations at Delhi University’s arts faculty, where labour activist Nodeep Kaur was invited to speak, turned ugly after ABVP supporters clashed with the organizers, Kaur said that they were branded ‘anti-national’ when they were only talking about sexual violence on Dalits.
Speaking to The Quint, Kaur said: “Families of Butana and Gurhmandi alleged rape cases and I were invited to speak on the occasion of Working Women’s Day because we often neglect sexual violence on Dalits when we talk of gender in urban spaces. We were branded ‘anti-national’ for that.”
“When my sister, Rajvir, was speaking on the issue about how police and courts help in suppression of Dalit women, some members of the ABVP came and disrupted her speech and started tearing our posters.”
On March 8, Bhagat Singh Chatra Manch (BSCM) invited Dalit activist Nodeep Kaur, her sister Rajveer Kaur and family members of a few rape victims to address the crowd on the plight of working Dalit women and how are they sexually exploited.
Before Nodeep could speak, Akhila Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP) supporters, along with Delhi University Students Union joint secretary Shivangi Kharwal stopped the proceedings. This led to a clash between two student unions.
In the clash, Nodeep was allegedly dragged, BSCM’s vice president Sangeeta Geet claimed that her clothes were torn and Kisan Morcha’s Legal Cell member Vasu Kukreja suffered a swollen eye.
“Police looked the other way while our posters were being torn and Nodeep was being heckled,” Geet claimed. Following this, ABVP got away while a few of BSCM’s members were detained by the police.
Nodeep Kaur said the police were not active and stern in acting against the people from ABVP who disrupted the event.
“This is not the first time that ABVP members have disrupted an event which did not conform to their ideologies. But, this is not going to stop us,” Kaur told.