JNU violence reminds me of 26/11, masked attackers are cowards: Uddhav

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday compared the JNU violence to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and said students were feeling "unsafe" in the country.

Asserting that students in Maharashtra were safe, Thackeray said he will not tolerate any move to hurt them.

"The attack on JNU students on Sunday night reminded me of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. I will not allow anything like JNU to happen here in Maharashtra... students are feeling unsafe in the country," he told reporters in Mumbai.

Terming the masked attackers at JNU as "cowards", Thackeray said their identity should be revealed.

"If Delhi Police fail to find out perpetrators of the attack, then they will also be in the dock," Uddhav said.

Violence broke out in JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police who conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

Eyewitnesses alleged that the attackers entered the premises when a meeting was being held by JNU Teachers' Association over the issue of violence on the campus, and assaulted students and professors. They also barged into three hostels.

Video footage aired by some TV channels showed a group of men, who were brandishing hockey sticks and rods, moving around a building.

The Left-controlled JNUSU and the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) blamed each other for the incident.