JNUSU president N Sai Balaji hits out at Sitharaman over her ‘waging a war’ statement on varsity

Days after the united front of Left student groups AISA, SFI, AISF, DSF scored a massive win by bagging all four key posts in JNUSU Election 2018, JNU students' union president N Sai Balaji and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman got engaged into an intense war of words.

Stepping up his attack on the Narendra Modi government, the new JNUSU president said, "The government wants the country to talk about the national versus anti-national debate. They want to divert attention from the real issues - the Rafale deal, the Jio university, unemployment."

Sitharaman, who herself, is a product of the JNU, has not answered questions "why Ambani was helped in the Rafale deal".

"They want to end public-funded education and encourage corporatisation while the common man talks about nationalism and anti-national elements," he added.

Balaji's statement came days after Sitharaman hit out at JNU, alleging that there are forces in the varsity which are "waging a war" against India and said she herself has not answered questions on Rafale deal.

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"There are forces which are waging a war against India and it is they who are also seen with elected representatives of the students union. That makes me feel uneasy," the Defence Minister was quoted as saying.

"The kind of things which have happened in the last few years (in JNU) are not really encouraging at all. It is very different to have a party whose ideology you may not agree with. But the way in which they were probably got led by forces which are anti-India," she said.

"They are waging a war against India, say pamphlets. Such people leading the JNUSU or JNUSU members openly participating with such forces, you do not need to hesitate to say anti-India, therefore," Sitharaman said.

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Sitharaman's comment came on the heels of Left groups victory on all four key posts in the JNUSU Election 2018, which witnessed a massive clash between members of the RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Left-affiliated All India Students Association (AISA).