E-Paper
Chandigarh: Morcha plans to gherao BJP offices on December 3 if PU senate stalemate persists
The only active protest site on Wednesday was a small sit-in outside vice-chancellor Renu Vig’s office, where a handful of morcha members continued their demonstration peacefully
The PU Bachao Morcha on Wednesday announced that it will gherao BJP offices in Chandigarh and across Punjab on December 3, if the ongoing stalemate over the Panjab University senate election schedule is not resolved by the December 2 deadline.
The announcement came on a day when police personnel visibly outnumbered protesters on campus.
“Even though the protesters withdrew the bandh call for today, there was no guarantee that people wouldn’t show up,” said PU chief security officer Vikram Singh, as Chandigarh Police maintained a tight vigil around the Student Centre, Administrative Block, and Gate numbers 1 and 2.
The only active protest site on Wednesday was a small sit-in outside vice-chancellor Renu Vig’s office, where a handful of morcha members continued their demonstration peacefully.
Outsiders, including members of farmer unions, were intermittently seen entering and exiting the protest site, but the situation remained calm — markedly different from the November 10 showdown, when over 5,000 protesters from across Punjab stormed the campus, broke gates, breached barricades and clashed with authorities.
To prevent a repeat of that chaos, more than 300 personnel from Chandigarh Police, along with Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and intelligence teams, were deployed across the university on Wednesday. The campus remained shut, with varsity authorities having declared a holiday.
The night before, the morcha had withdrawn its PU bandh call for outsiders after the administration effectively closed the university on its own after deferring the exams.
The past two days were marked by growing confusion as the university issued a series of contradictory notices. On Monday, it directed that examinations would be held as scheduled. On Tuesday, the administration first declared a holiday, then announced that exams had been shifted to DAV College and finally postponed them altogether.
The sudden shifts prompted morcha leaders to gather at Gate No. 2 on Tuesday night, reiterating that no examinations would be allowed until the senate schedule was announced. Under pressure, the university eventually postponed all exams, with fresh dates yet to be declared.
After the university requested more time, until December 2, to get the approval for the long awaited senate elections schedule, the morcha agreed to scale down its agitation until then.
However, by Wednesday evening, morcha leaders unveiled their next step should the deadline lapse — a gherao of BJP offices on December 3. “Until December 3, we will continue holding meetings across districts where these protests are planned,” said morcha leader Raman.
