Varanasi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi, is preparing for a likely storm when he visits on February 22. The student unrest fuelled by the suicide of Hyderabad university scholar Rohith Vemula and the police's action on JNU students in New Delhi is threatening to disrupt the visit.
Mr Modi's Varanasi office is worried. Several student outfits including the CPI backed All India Students Association or AISA, All India Dr Ambedkar Dalit Students' Association and Dalit Adivasi Students' Union have announced they will mark February 22 as 'black day.'
Last month, a group of students had disrupted PM Modi's speech at the convocation of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow over Mr Vemula's suicide. The Prime Minister's office wants to avoid a repeat in his constituency.
Sagar Gupta of CPI(ML) told NDTV, "We are staging a demonstration tomorrow at the PM's office in Varanasi. Our demand is before coming to Varanasi, PM has to act against those behind Hyderabad scholar Rohith's suicide and unconditional release of JNUSU president Kanhaiya (Kumar). If that doesn't happen, in Varanasi and all across eastern UP universities, we will protest with black flags."
PM Modi, in an event loaded with political symbolism, is scheduled to visit the Sant Ravidas temple near Sheergovardhan area of Varanasi. The temple attracts thousands of devotees, especially from Punjab. The visit will be an attempt to send a signal to Dalit voters in Punjab which will see assembly elections less than one year from now.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will also visit the temple the same day. His party, AAP, is also eyeing gains in the Punjab elections. Some local Hindu organisations have announced a protest call against the visit.
A senior BJP leader said on the protests, "We are not worried. Ensuring law and order is the responsibility of the state administration. Some students who want to protest don't represent people of Varanasi, among whom the Prime Minister is extremely popular."
But the tension is palpable. Union minister Vijay Sampla has already made an attempt to calm flared tempers by meeting Dalit students at the Benaras Hindu University or BHU while on a visit to oversee the preparations for Mr Modi's visit.