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BJP, NCP student wings clash at Pune’s Fergusson College over Citizenship Act
According to police officials, two student groups — Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) students wing and BJP Yuva Morcha — chanted slogans at each other at 2.30 pm
Fergusson College premises saw pro and anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests on Monday.
According to police officials, two student groups — Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) students wing and BJP Yuva Morcha — chanted slogans at 2.30 pm. Volunteers of BJP Yuva Morcha and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) were protesting inside the college when a group of 25-30 volunteers of NCP student wing entered the college to give a memorandum to the college principal to close the institution to oppose the brutality of police who had beaten up students in Delhi.
As the principal was absent, the NCP group sat on the college premises. However, the situation got tense when the NCP students wing who is anti-CAA and BJP Yuva Morcha who favours the Act started shouting slogans at each other. The protests went on for half an hour before the situation got out of hand and the police had to intervene.
Deepak Lagad, senior inspector Deccan Gymkhana police station, said, “Our team reached the spot as soon as we got to know that students are protesting inside the college. We spoke to both the groups and asked them to leave the campus immediately. No one has been arrested or detained.”
The protests stopped only at 4 pm after the NCP students wing handed over the memorandum to the college principal, said officials.
Ravindra Pardeshi, principal, Fergusson College said, “We had not given permission to conduct protest within the college premises. The clash between the two groups was sudden. We have taken their memorandum and will forward it to the concerned government agency.”
Vishal More, NCP students wing president, who was leading the protest said, “We had come to the college to give a memorandum for shutting the college in solidarity with Delhi police’s brutality against the students. Since the principal was absent, we sat silently. However, the other group started shouting slogans at us and we did the same. The protest heated up suddenly.”
Punit Joshi from BJP Yuva Morcha said, “The NCP students wing volunteers are pressurising authorities to shut down colleges. Whoever wants to protest against CAA and NRC can go the legal way. However, if they are trying to shut down the college for their own political interests, the students here will not tolerate it.”
