The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to make the Government Victoria College ‘grave’ issue a poll plank.
The party’s general secretary and Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Thursday met the former Principal of the college N. Sarasu, for whom a grave appeared on the college campus on the day of her retirement. She had alleged that activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and some teachers were behind the incident.
Mr. Rudy arrived here on Thursday evening to inaugurate the Assembly poll campaign of party candidate Shobha Surendran. He told Ms. Sarasu that the BJP would organise a national-level campaign on the issue apart from making it a key electoral issue in the State.
Speaking to reporters outside the Principal’s residence, he came down heavily on CPI(M)’s Lok Sabha members M.B. Rajesh and P.K. Biju for keeping mum on the issue. “The retired Principal is a woman and a Dalit. The two MPs representing Palakkad are very much vocal about Rohit Vemula issue. However, they are keeping mum on the insult meted out to a Dalit college Principal by their own students’ union leaders. It is sheer injustice,” he said.
The BJP’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), organised a public meeting near the college in the evening to condemn the issue. A number of Sangh Parivar leaders and a few local Dalit leaders took part.
SFI activists held
The Palakkad North police have arrested four SFI activists in connection with the issue.
