Fact Check: Did JNU profs force students to join CJP protests? Here's the truth
This video is actually from a February 2026 report by The Lallantop. At the time, there were clashes in JNU. It has nothing to do with the CJP protests.
India Today Fact Check
This video is from February. At the time, there were clashes between student groups in JNU. It has nothing to do with the CJP protests.
Are students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University being forced by their professors to ditch class and join the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party protests in central Delhi? This is what's being alleged by many using a video of students speaking to the news outlet The Lallantop (part of the India Today Group).
One of the students in the video says, “You are forced in the middle of the class to come out and join the protests.” Another says that they were threatened for not joining. The text in the video said, “JNU students receive threats from leftist professors to join CJP protest.”
A still of the same people with the quote, “Professors are forcing us out of class and dragging us into these protests right in the middle of our exams,” attributed to JNU students, was also widely shared.
A YouTube channel shared the poster with the caption, “JNU professors force students to join the CJP protest in Jantar Mantar, Delhi.” The platform called The Jaipur Dialogues shared the still on July 22 without any context.
India Today Fact Check found that this interview is from February, when violence had erupted on the JNU campus between different student organisations. It has nothing to do with the ongoing protests.
OUR PROBE
We found that this interview was published by The Lallantop on February 25. It features the people seen in the viral posts among other students. According to the news outlet, a clash had broken out in the JNU campus in the early hours of February 23, between members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Left organisations.
In this video report, The Lallantop's Rajat Pandey spoke to students who were neither involved in the clash, nor invested in college politics. It’s noteworthy that while these students said that they were forced to join protests, nowhere in the video did anyone allege that professors forced them out of class.
The students, however, expressed concern about how classroom interruptions were jeopardising their studies. They also talked about regular protests and violence damaging JNU's reputation.
WHAT LED TO THE CLASHES
According to an NDTV report from February 23, JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit had allegedly made casteist remarks in a podcast. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union subsequently called for an “Equality March”, demanding her resignation. This march reportedly turned violent, with the JNUSU and ABVP accusing the other of being the aggressor.
The Hindu also reported on February 23 that the JNU campus remained tense following the VC's remark that Dalits cannot progress using a “victim card”. There were also protests over the suspension of JNUSU office-bearers and the former president, who had protested against surveillance in the central library.
Thus, it is clear that the viral interview has nothing to do with the ongoing student-led protests in Delhi that began on June 6, and predates it by months.
Are students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University being forced by their professors to ditch class and join the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party protests in central Delhi? This is what's being alleged by many using a video of students speaking to the news outlet The Lallantop (part of the India Today Group).
One of the students in the video says, “You are forced in the middle of the class to come out and join the protests.” Another says that they were threatened for not joining. The text in the video said, “JNU students receive threats from leftist professors to join CJP protest.”
A still of the same people with the quote, “Professors are forcing us out of class and dragging us into these protests right in the middle of our exams,” attributed to JNU students, was also widely shared.
A YouTube channel shared the poster with the caption, “JNU professors force students to join the CJP protest in Jantar Mantar, Delhi.” The platform called The Jaipur Dialogues shared the still on July 22 without any context.
India Today Fact Check found that this interview is from February, when violence had erupted on the JNU campus between different student organisations. It has nothing to do with the ongoing protests.
OUR PROBE
We found that this interview was published by The Lallantop on February 25. It features the people seen in the viral posts among other students. According to the news outlet, a clash had broken out in the JNU campus in the early hours of February 23, between members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Left organisations.
In this video report, The Lallantop's Rajat Pandey spoke to students who were neither involved in the clash, nor invested in college politics. It’s noteworthy that while these students said that they were forced to join protests, nowhere in the video did anyone allege that professors forced them out of class.
The students, however, expressed concern about how classroom interruptions were jeopardising their studies. They also talked about regular protests and violence damaging JNU's reputation.
WHAT LED TO THE CLASHES
According to an NDTV report from February 23, JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit had allegedly made casteist remarks in a podcast. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union subsequently called for an “Equality March”, demanding her resignation. This march reportedly turned violent, with the JNUSU and ABVP accusing the other of being the aggressor.
The Hindu also reported on February 23 that the JNU campus remained tense following the VC's remark that Dalits cannot progress using a “victim card”. There were also protests over the suspension of JNUSU office-bearers and the former president, who had protested against surveillance in the central library.
Thus, it is clear that the viral interview has nothing to do with the ongoing student-led protests in Delhi that began on June 6, and predates it by months.
Are students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University being forced by their professors to ditch class and join the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party protests in central Delhi? This is what's being alleged by many using a video of students speaking to the news outlet The Lallantop (part of the India Today Group).
One of the students in the video says, “You are forced in the middle of the class to come out and join the protests.” Another says that they were threatened for not joining. The text in the video said, “JNU students receive threats from leftist professors to join CJP protest.”
A still of the same people with the quote, “Professors are forcing us out of class and dragging us into these protests right in the middle of our exams,” attributed to JNU students, was also widely shared.
A YouTube channel shared the poster with the caption, “JNU professors force students to join the CJP protest in Jantar Mantar, Delhi.” The platform called The Jaipur Dialogues shared the still on July 22 without any context.
India Today Fact Check found that this interview is from February, when violence had erupted on the JNU campus between different student organisations. It has nothing to do with the ongoing protests.
OUR PROBE
We found that this interview was published by The Lallantop on February 25. It features the people seen in the viral posts among other students. According to the news outlet, a clash had broken out in the JNU campus in the early hours of February 23, between members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Left organisations.
In this video report, The Lallantop's Rajat Pandey spoke to students who were neither involved in the clash, nor invested in college politics. It’s noteworthy that while these students said that they were forced to join protests, nowhere in the video did anyone allege that professors forced them out of class.
The students, however, expressed concern about how classroom interruptions were jeopardising their studies. They also talked about regular protests and violence damaging JNU's reputation.
WHAT LED TO THE CLASHES
According to an NDTV report from February 23, JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit had allegedly made casteist remarks in a podcast. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union subsequently called for an “Equality March”, demanding her resignation. This march reportedly turned violent, with the JNUSU and ABVP accusing the other of being the aggressor.
The Hindu also reported on February 23 that the JNU campus remained tense following the VC's remark that Dalits cannot progress using a “victim card”. There were also protests over the suspension of JNUSU office-bearers and the former president, who had protested against surveillance in the central library.
Thus, it is clear that the viral interview has nothing to do with the ongoing student-led protests in Delhi that began on June 6, and predates it by months.