The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Left-affiliated All India Students’ Association on Saturday organised protests at the Delhi University’s Arts Faculty against the incidents involving Union minister Babul Supriyo at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University on Thursday, PTI reported. Both the outfits blamed each other for violence and issued counter-statements.
The ABVP, which is the students’ wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, burnt effigies and raised slogans against the alleged violence by the Left, calling it “Leftist terror”. The outfit’s Delhi president Siddharth Yadav said the truth about the violence needs to be brought before the students, The Times of India reported. “We will not allow this type of culture to come to DU or tolerate any kind of violence,” he said.
Akshit Dahiya, the newly-elected president of Delhi University Students’ Union, demanded that the President’s rule be implemented in West Bengal. “When a minister is not safe in West Bengal, how can the common students be safe,” Dahiya said. “There should be an ideological surgical strike across universities against Left terror.”
Meanwhile, members of the Left student groups protested against the “hooliganism” by Supriyo and the ABVP. “From JU to DU, wherever there is a strong students’ voice against BJP government’s anti-people and anti-student policies, the BJP government unleashes an all-out attack on campus democracy,” the All India Students Association said in a statement.
“The Delhi police under the garb of ‘law and order’ first tried to delay our protest and later tried to cage us inside barricades while ABVP [members] could be seen roaming around everywhere,” AISA added.
Supriyo claimed that he was heckled when he visited the university campus on September 19 to address a seminar organised by ABVP. However, according to students, the ABVP’s activists and the minister shoved students and were violent. Hours after being holed up in the campus, Supriyo was escorted out of the campus with help from Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Also read: West Bengal BJP chief says surgical strike in JU will destroy groups that assaulted Babul Supriyo
West Bengal governor visits JU Vice Chancellor at hospital
Dhankhar on Saturday met Jadavpur University Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das and Pro-Vice Chancellor Pradip Ghosh at a private Kolkata hospital where they have been admitted since Thursday evening, Hindustan Times reported.
“The chancellor indicated that as guardian he will engage in all-out efforts to interact with the students, faculty and the management so that the University is put in the growth trajectory,” a statement released by the Raj Bhavan said. “The chancellor greatly appreciated the stand of the VC that he will organise the interaction with faculty members in the near future.”
Jadavpur University Registrar Snehamanju Basu said that the governor told them that he is available in any capacity to help the university.
The superintending physician of the hospital said both Das and Ghosh were admitted with high blood pressure and anxiety-related problems but have recovered. “The governor asked me how they were keeping and told me not to release them till they were fully fit,” RK Dutta Ray said.
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