Not just JNU and and Hyderabad: ABVP is no stranger to controversies

Even as the BJP’s student wing grows in strength across the country and takes over campuses such as the Delhi University, it has repeatedly been embroiled in controversies over the past two years

Tensions over anti-India slogans allegedly shouted at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University has put the focus on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which first lodged a police complaint that led to sedition charges against student leader Kanhaiya Kumar.

ABVP activists protest against an event at JNU supporting Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)

But even as the BJP’s student wing grows in strength across the country and takes over campuses such as the Delhi University, it has repeatedly been embroiled in controversies over the past two years. HT takes a look:

February 2016

Alleged ABVP workers attack Congress leader Anand Sharma on February 13.

Purported video shows ABVP supporters shouting anti-India slogans at JNU campus

January 2016

Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula commits suicide at the University of Hyderabad, triggering mass demonstrations across the country. Authorities suspended him from the university after a fight with ABVP workers who opposed his protest over Yakub Memon’s death sentence.

December 2015

ABVP workers demonstrate against a Beef Festival at Hyderabad’s Osmania University, organise a pork festival in protest

October 2015

ABVP and SFI workers clash at the Shree Kala Varma College in Kerala’s Thrissur over organising a beef festival.

December 2014

ABVP workers and other right-wing groups disrupt the screening of the Aamir Khan-starrer PK for hurting Hindu religious sentiments. Khan’s effigy is burnt in different states.

September 2014

Alleged ABVP workers vandalise the venue of the Kashmir film festival in Hyderabad and disrupt film screenings, calling the event anti-national.