Fact check: Did Manmohan Singh face black flag protests in JNU in 2005?

Former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid sparked a debate on Thursday when he claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was shown black flags during a visit to Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2005. But the debate intensified with his claim that Singh, in turn, requested the Vice-Chancellor to be "lenient" with students and maintained that it is their right to protest.

Looking up past media reports we found out that Manmohan Singh did face black flag protests during his visit to JNU in 2005 and he also defended students' right to protest.

In 2005, Manmohan Singh faced black flags in JNU as a protest against his economic policies. It became a big news. The admin immediately sent notices to students. The very next day, PMO intervened & asked the admin not to take any action as protest was students' democratic right.

— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) January 9, 2020

Khalid, in his tweet, also claimed that former PM Manmohan Singh had begun his speech by quoting a sentence from the biography of French writer Voltaire, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it."

PM Manmohan Singh facing sloganeering and black flags from student protestors began his speech by quoting Voltaire, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it."Then and Now!!

— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) January 9, 2020

The Telegraph, in a report filed in 2016, stated that then VC B.B. Bhattacharya had said Singh requested him to be lenient with the students who showed black flags to then PM.

"Manmohan Singh came and told me 'please be lenient, Sir'. I said I have to at least warn them... It is unfortunate that students have burnt the PM's effigy, but the problem today is that lines of communication with students have broken down," the report quoted Bhattacharya.

Other media reports like one filed by The Hindu back in 2005 also confirms Manmohan's stance on defending students' right to protest. The same report also confirms the claims by Khalid that former PM quoted Voltaire in his speech at JNU.