Another campus row is all set to figure in Parliament as the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday announced that it would “strongly” raise the issue of alleged harassment of Richa Singh, president of the Allahabad University Students Union (AUSU), at the hands of the university administration.
JD(U) leader K.C Tyagi told The Hindu : “It is yet another attempt at ‘saffronisation’ by the NDA government. We strongly condemn it. We will coordinate with other parties as well and strongly raise this issue in Parliament.”
Ms. Singh is the first woman president of the AUSU, elected after a gap of 128 years, and she has won as an independent candidate.
Notably, the other four members are from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). “After Rohith Vemula [Hyderabad University] and Kanhaiya Kumar [JNU] ... they are now trying to target Richa, but we won’t let it happen,” said Mr. Tyagi, adding that Ms. Singh was being deliberately victimised so that she leaves her ‘presidentship’ and the right-wing ABVP can capture the AUSU.
Mr. Tyagi said it was an irony that on the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about “women-led development,” but, on the other, the HRD Ministry had shown insensitivity towards Ms. Singh’s alleged harassment on the campus.
