ABVP cadre pelt stones after protest rally to JU stopped midway

Four days after clashes broke out in Kolkata’s Jadavpur University during the visit of union minister Babul Supriyo, a protest rally to the university organised by the ABVP was stopped midway by the police on Monday (September 23), leading to stone-pelting by the activists.

The rally, organised by the right-wing organisation in protest against the September 19 unrest in the campus during Supriyo’s visit, commenced from the Gariahat area in south Kolkata, news agency PTI reported.

As soon as the rally reached Jodhpur Park they were stopped by the police. However, the ABVP activists participating in the rally tried to break the barricades and even pelted stones at the police officers while raising slogans against the ruling TMC government, it said.

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It may be recalled that Supriyo, a two-time MP from West Bengal’s Asansol, was shown black flags by a section of the students on September 19 when he visited the university for attending an event organised by the ABVP.

He was detained by the protesting students and was allegedly heckled by them. However, the protesters too accused the minister of assaulting the students and ‘slut-shaming’ girls. Supriyo was later escorted out by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Responding to the September 19 incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS, wanted to wield power everywhere and bulldoze everything.

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“We have seen what they (ABVP, BJP) did at the Jadavpur University. They want to wield power everywhere and bulldoze everything,” the Chief Minister was quoted as saying by PTI.

According to a report on The Indian Express, she also said that the day protests lose their value, India will stop being India. “Democracy still exists in Bengal while there is no democracy at a few places. We have seen what happened at Jadavpur University,” added the TMC supremo.

(With inputs from agencies)