4 injured at stir against Sangh leader at Keralam varsity event

At least four students were injured in clashes with police at the Central University of Kerala in Kasaragod on Tuesday as they protested against the presence of an RSS ideologue at a seminar on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram at the university, officials said.

Activists of various student unions of Students Federation of India (SFI), aligned with CPI(M), Kerala Students Union (KSU), aligned with Congress, and Muslim Students Federation (MSF), linked to IUML, held agitations outside the main library hall at the university against the presence of J Nandakumar, national convenor of Prajna Pravah, an RSS frontal organisation.

While Nandakumar arrived at the university and took part in the inauguration ceremony of a two-day national seminar on 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, organised by the Sahitya Akademi and Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad, students protested outside the venue and clashed with police.

The student activists also complained that many of them were not allowed inside the hall despite registering for the event.

One of the student activists told reporters, “The police are saying that we are not being allowed inside due to the vice-chancellor’s instructions. Who is he to say that?” The protesting students held placards reading ‘No to RSS and saffronisation”, and shouted slogans against the RSS.

Leader of Opposition and former CM Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the police action against the students. “The politics behind the seminar is very clear. If it is an academic progress, then what justification does university officials have in inviting an RSS leader? Students who had registering for the event were denied entry,” he said.