Hyderabad, Mar 24 (NDTV):There were similarities between Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Hyderabad Central University in the manner students and teachers have been targeted, JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar said today.

Speaking at a seminar in Hyderabad, the JNU students' union president who was not allowed yesterday to enter the Hyderabad university where Dalit student Rohith Vemula committed suicide in January, said there was a "serious attack on universities".

"To say that students are losing control is unfair. How can the same thing happen in IIT Chennai, Fergusson, FTII? Why are campuses becoming warzones? We should ask the logical question that who is ordering the internal security to act this way," he asked, referring to unrest that has flared in university's across the country in the last few months.

On Tuesday, violence had erupted in HCU as students attacked the media, threw stones at the police and kept the top official at the university hostage by surrounding for six hours the office-cum-residence of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao. He had returned to work on Tuesday after proceeding on long leave amid the furious protests that followed Mr Vemula's suicide in his hostel room.

Thirty four students and two professors were arrested and charged with vandalising the office of Mr Rao fuelling tensions.

Stopped from entering the campus yesterday, Mr Kumar, delivered a short speech at the university's main gates, alleging that students are being refused the right to dissent.

University officials said they had not granted permission for the event, which was to take place in a section where a makeshift memorial for Mr Vemula has been constructed.

Mr Kumar's arrest last month from Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU sponsored a fierce national debate on whether the government is trying to crush dissent and free speech. After he was released from jail, Mr Kumar delivered a gripping speech at JNU, declaring Rohith Vemula his hero.