The Kolkata Police lathicharged students of Jadavpur University and Bharatiya Janata Party workers on Monday evening after their rallies collided near Sulekha crossing in the southern parts of the city, ANI reported.
The All India Students Association and the Students Federation of India organised marches from the Jadavpur University campus in Kolkata to the 8B Bus Stand and shouted slogans against the BJP government at the Centre and against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. They demanded immediate arrests of those involved in the mob attack on students and teachers at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday evening.
“The way the ABVP workers had vandalised the campus in September and JNU campus yesterday reflects the fascist mindset of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar,” a Jadavpur University student said.
The BJP members organised a rally from Bagha Jatin More to Jadavpur police station in protest against the ransacking of the party office on Sunday night, according to The Indian Express.
The police put up barricades but there was sloganeering and stone pelting in the area. Some protesters also got into physical interactions, following which the police resorted to batoncharging those present.
But Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner Sudip Sarkar said there was a misunderstanding. “We had no intention to use batons on them,” Sarkar said. “There was some lathicharge only when we were chasing the BJP workers in a bid to disperse them from the spot. During this, some students were caught up in the scene and got beaten up.” Sarkar also apologised to the students for attacking them.
The students, however, demanded action and filed a complaint against the police, NDTV reported.
Anger over the mob attack on students and teachers at the JNU spread to several college campuses in India on Monday, as well as to some universities.
A mob, allegedly comprising members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s youth wing ABVP, armed with sticks and hammers, attacked students at hostels in JNU on Sunday evening. At least 34 people, including faculty members, were injured in the attack. The wounded were admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. They have now been discharged.
Protests took place at Pondicherry University, Bangalore University, University of Hyderabad, Aligarh Muslim University, University of Mumbai, Delhi University, Ambedkar University, Banaras Hindu University, Chandigarh University, National Law University in Bengaluru, Savitribai Phule University in Pune, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, Jadavpur University and Presidency University in Kolkata and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
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