A wooden emblem installed on one of the gates of Kolkata’s Jadavpur University was damaged on Thursday afternoon when members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly tried to enter the campus following a clash between its members and supporters of Left student unions the previous night, university professors said.
On Thursday, ABVP supporters took out rallies from Gariahat Road and tried to reach the campus while members of Left student unions gathered at the 8B bus stand.
“The emblem’s outer ring, which depicts lotus petals, fell off when outsiders stepped on it,” a professor said, requesting anonymity.
Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) president Partha Pratim Roy said the association held an emergency meeting on Thursday and demanded that JU authorities immediately file a police complaint.
Selim Box Mandal, the acting registrar, said, “Let us first find all the facts before taking a decision on filing a police complaint.”
Meanwhile, both ABVP and Left party supporters accused each other of burning party flags, banners and even campus property on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
The ABVP alleged that two of its members, Nikhil Das, president of the JU unit, and Diptiman Kar, were assaulted on Wednesday night when they stated that no union has the right to hold a general body meeting since there is no elected union in JU.
{{/usCountry}}The ABVP alleged that two of its members, Nikhil Das, president of the JU unit, and Diptiman Kar, were assaulted on Wednesday night when they stated that no union has the right to hold a general body meeting since there is no elected union in JU.
{{/usCountry}}“As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, we will drive out all dimagi naxals from the JU campus. The fight against the Left and Naxalites at JU started today,” Subhabrata Adhikari, an ABVP central committee member, said.
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), alleged that ABVP members brought in outsiders to carry out the violence. The All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) raised the same allegation.
“The trouble started on Wednesday night when a few ABVP members gate crashed a meeting of engineering faculty students without any provocation. The local BJP MLA and her goons attacked the students and vandalised the campus in an unprecedented manner. Today also the AVBP goons destroyed the historic emblem of the university designed by Nandalal Bose while trying to enter the campus forcefully,” Srijan Bhattacharya, general secretary of the SFI Bengal unit, said.
Police officers said that no one had been arrested till Thursday night.
“The JU authorities tried to call the Jadavpur police station on Wednesday night but somehow the calls did not get through. Police were sent to guard the outside perimeter after the JU authorities called the emergency (100) number,” a Kolkata police official said, requesting anonymity. He said the police never entered the campus.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said ABVP is not his party’s organisation. “ABVP is not a part of our party. It is a separate entity. Our party neither enters JU nor runs the government,” Bhattacharya said, refusing to comment on the alleged violence.
Some BJP leaders, such as Rajya Sabha member Rahul Sinha and BJP’s Jadavpur MLA Sarbori Mukherjee, supported the ABVP and called the JU campus “a den of naxalites.”
“Sometimes outsiders are required to get rid of Naxalites. If required outsiders will enter the JU campus. We will drive out all the Naxalites,” Sinha said.
Mukherjee said, “If those who assaulted the ABVP members do not surrender at the Jadavpur police station then we will hunt them down. JU can no longer be a den of urban Naxals.”
“The BJP did not learn a lesson from its defeat at Jantar Mantar. The more it indulges in hooliganism, the more isolated it will become from the students,” Srijan added.