Clashes erupt at JNU between ABVP, Left groups after protest seeking VC’s resignation

Clashes erupted at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi between students affiliated to the Left and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the early hours of Monday after a protest was held seeking the resignation of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, PTI reported.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union had called for a march towards the East Gate of the campus, demanding that Pandit should resign for making allegedly casteist remarks during an interview to The Sunday Guardian on February 16. The vice chancellor had said that progress for Dalits was not possible “by being permanently a victim of playing the victim card”.

The clashes took place at around 1.30 am on Monday after a scuffle broke out among the students.

The protesters alleged that the JNU administration did not engage with the march, and instead allowed members of the ABVP to confront them, PTI reported.

The All India Students Association, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), also alleged that members of the ABVP threw stones at “unarmed students” and left many of them injured, PTI reported.

The ABVP alleged that a biotechnology student named Prateek Bharadwaj was...

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