BJP youth wing vandalises Bangladeshi stall at Pune college food event

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing vandalised a Bangladeshi food stall at an international food event at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology World Peace University in Pune.

It was unclear when the incident took place.

On Wednesday, a video posted on social media by Dushyant Mohol, the Pune city head of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, showed members of the organisation arguing with students at the stall and the security guards, shouting slogans, vandalising the kiosk and burning the Bangladeshi flag.

The event had stalls from several countries.

An unidentified international student attending the event told The Indian Express that a group of 20 to 30 men had vandalised the stall. “We had already asked all Bangladeshi students to go inside, but one girl was out, and they were trying to attack them as well,” the student was quoted as saying.

Ganesh Pokale, the registrar of the university, told the newspaper that the vandals were outsiders and not from the institute.

The newspaper quoted the college authorities as saying that they were in the process of filing a complaint.

Senior Police Inspector Sandeep Deshmane told The Indian Express that the police were aware of the incident and had sought more details from the university.

BJP youth wing threatens to disrupt events

In the caption of the post, Mohol said that the glorification of “anti-Hindu forces will not be tolerated” in Pune.

Since the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government came to power in Bangladesh, Hindu temples in that country “are being demolished every day, Hindu mothers and sisters are facing atrocities and Hindus are being burned alive”, Mohol said.

Yunus, a Nobel laureate, had become the head of Bangladesh’s interim government in August 2024 after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government.

“As soon as the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha heard about this anti-national act, we immediately rushed to the spot,” Mohol said. “We destroyed the platform of those who dared to spread ‘anti-India’ ideology on the soil of Pune and registered our strong protest by burning the Bangladeshi flag!”

Posing a question to the university, Mohol asked: “Whose interest are you really working for? India or anti-India forces? First Pakistan and now Bangladesh...Stop such businesses immediately!”

“If this does not stop, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha will give an even more aggressive and befitting reply,” he said. “All colleges including MIT should take serious note of the fact that such events will be disrupted in Pune from now on.”