The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will move the Kerala High Court seeking withdrawal of the controversial college magazine of Government Brennen College at Thalassery here.
The college magazine published by the college union and edited by student editor Athul Rameshan, an activist of the Students Federation of India (SFI), is in the centre of a row with the BJP and the ABVP alleging that some of its illustrations and content contained derogatory reference to the national flag and national anthem. The ABVP workers staged a demonstration on the college campus here on Thursday. The student organisation of the Sangh Parivar would launch an indefinite agitation in the college demanding the withdrawal of the magazine.
‘Gimmicks’
ABVP State secretary Shyamaraj P. said at a press conference here on Thursday that the ABVP was not against freedom of expression. His organisation, however, could not approve of gimmicks in the name of freedom of expression, he added.
At a meeting convened by college Principal K. Muralidas on June 14, the college union controlled by the SFI agreed to withdraw two pages that contained the controversial illustrations.
The ABVP, however, insisted that it wanted the entire college magazine to be withdrawn.
The Principal said on Thursday that both sides refused to budge.
The magazine’s staff editor K.V. Sudhakaran said on June 14 that the illustration in the magazine was being misinterpreted to create unnecessary controversy to disparage the college on the occasion of the its 125th anniversary.