Ashish Ranjan
The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad accused Left-backed student outfits of vandalising the portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his birth anniversary at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday, while the JNU Students’ Union claimed that ABVP activists attacked some students after a march demanding justice for an IIT Bombay student who allegedly committed suicide recently. However, the ABVP has disputed the accusation.
Solanki, 18, a member of the Scheduled Caste community, purportedly committed himself by falling from the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the Indian Institute of Technology on February 12, but his family suspects foul play and claims he endured discrimination.
In a statement, the JNUSU claimed that the ABVP had once again resorted to attacking students. This was done soon after a candlelight march in sympathy with the demand by Darshan Solanki’s father…. This is another another attempt by the ABVP to disrupt the campaign against caste prejudice.”
Denying the charge, the ABVP accused the “Left group” of taking a garland from a portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and throwing it away.
“Immediately following the function, students from the Left came and took the garland from the image before discarding it,” the ABVP stated in a statement.
According to ANI, a painting of Shivaji Maharaj was hung on the walls of the student activity centre.
“Today is the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. As a memorial, we had hung a painting of Shivaji Maharaj on the walls of the student activity centre. But the ‘communists’ of JNU couldn’t digest this. Members from ‘100 Flowers Group’ and the SFI came and vandalised the image of Shivaji Maharaj,” ANI cited ABVP JNU secretary Umesh Chandra Ajmera as saying.
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He claimed that individuals involved in the event were “illegal workers” (outsiders) and had entered the college premises without permission.
