RSS leader and chairman of Vivekananda Vidyavardhaka Sangha of Puttur Kalladkka Prabhakar Bhat said on Wednesday that those students who do not like to wear uniform prescribed by their respective educational institutions should leave the country.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the post-graduate students council of Mangalore University on Mangalagangotri campus, Mr. Bhat said that such students who do not like to wear uniform should go to a country where the dress code of their choice is allowed.
“Such students (who oppose wearing uniform) cannot stay in this country,” he said to a huge applause from post-graduate students in the audience.
Mr. Bhat said that wearing uniform symbolised equality.
He said that India is the most secular country and others need not teach it to follow secularism. The country offered religious freedom to all and it has welcomed people of all faiths, he added.
Members of CFI staging a protest at the entrance of Mangalore university on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH
Meanwhile, Campus Front of India (CFI) and Students Federation of India (SFI) staged protests against the university for inviting Mr. Bhat to its campus to inaugurate the council. Both the organisations said that Mr. Bhat is known for making hate and provocative speeches and he should not have been invited.
The CFI staged the protest at the main entrance of the university at Mangalagangotri when Mr. Bhat began his speech. Its members shouted slogans against Mr. Bhat asking him to go back.
The SFI staged a demonstration at the Clock Tower in the city in the evening. Addressing a gathering in the city, SFI leader Manoj Vamanjoor said that the university should own up the responsibility if the speech made by Mr. Bhat on campus disturbed peace. The university could have invited any elected representatives to the function, he said, wondering which qualification of Mr. Bhat’s made the university, supposed to be a knowledge centre, to invite him to a function on campus.
