Protests in OU over Lagadapati’s remarks

Congress Lok Sabha member Lagadapati Rajagopal’s alleged remarks on Osmania University sparked tension on the campus in Hyderabad on Monday with students resorting to stone pelting while the police used tear gas to control them.

‘Funeral’ processions of the MP were taken out and his effigies were burnt by students on the campus condemning his ‘objectionable’ comments on OU and its students.

The OU Students Joint Action Committee organised the ‘funeral procession’ of the MP from Arts College to Andhra Mahila Sabha arch and raised slogans against him.

Activists of the Progressive Democratic Students Union, and Daruvu, another organisation, burnt effigies of the MP at Arts College.

Trouble started when some students assembled near the police station to stage a sit-in while the police chased them away. The students began showering stones on the police around noon while the police lobbed tear gas shells. The clash continued for nearly five hours at the police station and near the College of Education.

Little response to bandh

The bandh call given by the SJAC condemning ‘attacks by police on participants of Saagara Haram’ evoked little response in the city on Monday. RTC buses and autorickshaws plied normally.

Many private schools declared a holiday but almost all commercial establishments remained open.