Tensions snowballed at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University ahead of a nightlong clash between the left-leaning students and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students.
Several students were left injured after the mob belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Parishad barged into the campus and vandalized the property. The injured students were later admitted to the nearby KPC Medical College.
Other students have reported that they were unable to reach the hospital, which is across the road from the campus. They further alleged that as many as 10 FIRs were filed against students who were attacked.
The incident takes place from the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday when the governing body meeting organized by the Left-backed student unions and the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students Union (FETSU) was held inside the campus, the studnets told FoEJ Media.
The ABVP men protested against the meeting and later broke up a clash with the Left students, the students added.
The videos making the rounds on the internet showed a group of men allegedly belonging to the ABVP trying to break the gate and enter the campus while raising slogans. The studnets told FoEJ Media that the ABVP members raised relegious slogans.
“Why were they even allowed in the campus,?” the students asked.
Meanwhile, the ABVP accused left-leaning SFI, Democratic Students Organization (DSO), and Democratic Students Federation, alleging they orchestrated a planned attack on the pretext of the ABVP general meeting.
A member of ABVP, Shubhabrata Adhikari, told reporters that FIRs have been lodged against several persons, and members of the other group are protesting at Jadavpur Police Station.
In the wake of Wednesday’s events, the ABVP announced a protest scheduled for 11 am on Thursday.
Biswajit Roy, secretary of the DSO State Committee, alleged that sections of the ABVP and RSS had “wreaked havoc” on the campus in an attempt to seize control, accusing them of tearing down flags, setting fires, and hurling abuses.
Srijan, meanwhile, has demanded that the state government conduct students’ union elections at the earliest.
Referring to the recent damage to a statue of Lenin at Jadavpur University, allegedly by ABVP supporters, the SFI national general secretary accused ABVP members of attempting to create an atmosphere of unrest on the campus. He said, however, that students would not fall into what he described as their “trap.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Revolutionary Students’ Front said, “The ABVP and Nationalist Students’ Front (NSF) brought several outsiders to the FETSU meeting.”
Fires were set outside the building as well as at other locations across the campus. In addition to the assaults, there were allegations of attempted mob violence and stone-pelting.
