Students protest as inauguration of Savitribai Phule statue at SPPU gets cancelled

Students shouted slogans against the university administration and the state governor for not inaugurating the statue

PUNE After a heated and aggressive tussle between the various student organisations and security guards at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) on Monday, the formal inauguration of the Savitribai Phule statue on her birth anniversary was not carried out.

Around 25 to 30 students from various student organisations and groups gathered near the statue and protested against the university administration and the state governor for not inaugurating the statue. (Shankar Narayan/HT PHOTO)

Earlier, state cabinet minister Chagan Bhujbal announced the inauguration of the statue on January 3, with Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari in attendence. However, the governor was not able to visit the city, leading to the cancellation of the event

Around 25 to 30 students from various student organisations and groups gathered near the statue which was covered up in the university premises on Monday morning. There were SPPU security guards and also policemen around to handle the situation. Students shouted slogans against the university administration and the state governor for not inaugurating the statue.

“Seven years ago, this university was given name of Savitribai Phule and till now there was not even a single statue of her. After many years, a statue was constructed but is waiting to be inaugurated. Earlier it was declared that the statue will be inaugurated on her birth anniversary, January 3, but as the governor could not come it was cancelled. So, we decided to inaugurate the statue on our own on behalf of the students, but the security guards stopped us,” said Kuldeep Ambekar, a student and president of the Students Helping Hand organisation.

The statue was in the making for the past two-and-a-half-months. It is 12.5 feet and is made out of 1,500 kg bronze. The work was completed on December 27, however, the authorities still citied ‘work incomplete’ as a reason to not inaugurate the statue. However, student organisations allege that the event was postponed by a week as the governor was not present.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon minister Chagan Bhujbal visited the SPPU and took review of the statue work, he said, “Today I took the review of the statue work of Savitribai Phule on her birth anniversary and the statue will be inaugurated by the state governor next week. We sent him the invite late, and he was not able to make it. This led to a confusion among students.”