On Thursday afternoon, a wooden emblem at the gates of Kolkata’s Jadavpur University was damaged. This incident occurred as members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) attempted to enter the campus. The attempt followed a clash between ABVP members and supporters of Left student unions the previous night, according to university professors.
On Thursday, ABVP supporters took out rallies from Gariahat Road and tried to reach the campus while members of Left student unions gathered at the 8B bus stand. Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) president Partha Pratim Roy said the association held an emergency meeting on Thursday and demanded that JU authorities immediately file a police complaint. “The trouble started on Wednesday night when a few ABVP members gate crashed a meeting of engineering faculty students without any provocation. Today also the AVBP goons destroyed the historic emblem of the university designed by Nandalal Bose while trying to enter the campus forcefully,” Srijan Bhattacharya, general secretary of the SFI Bengal unit, said.
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), alleged that ABVP members brought in outsiders to carry out the violence. The All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) raised the same allegation. The local BJP MLA and her goons attacked the students and vandalised the campus in an unprecedented manner.
