SFI-ABVP clash over Jadavpur University students’ union meet, several students hospitalised

Clashes erupted at Jadavpur University between rival student groups, SFI and ABVP, during a general body meeting of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union. Several students were injured and admitted to hospital, while political leaders visited the site.

Kolkata:  Tension broke out at Jadavpur University (JU) campus in South Kolkata on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday over clashes between the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s students’ wing and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The tension between the two rival students’ unions erupted over the general body meeting of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (FETSU).

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The SFI has claimed that the ABVP has been trying to take control over the JU since the formation of the new state government in West Bengal, mobilised outsiders within the university campus and resorted to vandalism.

The ABVP, on the other hand, has accused the SFI, assisted by activists of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)- affiliated Democratic Students’ Organisation (DSO), of launching an attack on the ABVP office-bearers inside the campus in the guise of a general body meeting.

Some of the students injured in the clashes are currently under treatment at the nearby K.P.C. Medical College and Hospital.

The local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Jadavpur Assembly Constituency, Sarbori Mukherjee, an actress-turned-politician, arrived at the hospital on Thursday morning to enquire about the injured students admitted there.

Both the rival groups have lodged FIRs at the local Jadavpur Police Station over the incident. At the same time, both the rival students’ wings have announced massive protest demonstrations on Thursday over the issue within the campus.

At the time the report was filed, no one had been arrested in connection with the clashes that broke out in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

According to the ABVP’s central working committee member, Subhabrata Adhikari, the attack on their office-bearers was orchestrated not just by SFI activists but also by students affiliated to other Left-wing student groups, including those having links with Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) groups.

On the other hand, SFI’s general secretary, Srijan Bhattacharya, said the SFI was nowhere to be found in the entire mess. “What I heard is that the ABVP activists aided by local BJP associates resorted to vandalism within the campus. Why is ABVP so scared to face elections and democratically take control of the students’ body in JU?” Bhattacharya questioned.