Pune: City-based ‘Progressive Students’ Youth Agitation Committee’ has demanded action against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for the alleged physical assault it carried out against the activists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
The committee also protested against the terror tactics deployed by the right-wing student outfit to suppress contrarian voices at university campuses across the country.
The committee is an umbrella body constituted of disparate left-leaning and secular youth outfits attached to political parties. It draws support from diverse strands, such as journalism students from the Savitribai Phule Pune University.
Santosh Shinde, a member of the committee, said, “During the last couple of years, ABVP activists have increasingly resorted violence to suppress students professing progressive, liberal and left-leaning ideologies. Using coercion and pressure tactics. The ABVP has dubbed such students as ‘treasonous’ and ‘seditious’.”
To condemn the ABVP’s methods, the outfit will also organize a talk on March 7 titled ‘Terror-free Education’, to be delivered by Marathi educationist Dr. Nagnath Kotapalle.
Complaints galore
The recent agitation between right-wing and left-wing outfits at Delhi University’s Ramjas College spilled over to the Savitribai Phule Pune University last week with a clash between SFI and ABVP activists, which led to the arrest of nine students.
Members of both organisations lodged complaints against each other. The police arrested five ABVP members and four SFI activists. They were booked for violating prohibitory orders, causing breach of peace and inflicting hurt and injuries.
City-based ABVP activists had allegedly burnt an effigy of Mr. Khalid, who was slapped with sedition charges last year. SFI activists retaliated by putting up posters condemning Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde for ‘threatening’ their colleagues at a Solapur polytechnic college. This, in turn, roused the ire of ABVP activists.
Sanjay Dabhade, a member of the committee, said, “5 SFI activists were badly injured after beaten up by ABVP thugs. Even security personnel were assaulted in the melee.”
Earlier this week, the SFI accused the police of denying permission to take out a protest rally on the SPPU premises, while alleging that the police had given ‘preferential treatment’ to the ABVP by allowing it to stage a rally.
Police refuted this accusation, stating that they were anxious to prevent a similar scuffle.
The ABVP on Monday had staged a large rally at from Shaniwarwada Fort to the Council Hall area and had submitted a memorandum to the District Collector regarding issues in many city colleges. The SFI, despite being denied permission for a rally, had staged a sit-in on the same day, condemning the ABVP’s attack on students at Ramjas College.
