The event at Fergusson College was organised by JNU student leaders of the ABVP, which is affiliated to the BJP.
Highlights
- FIR after clashes on campus between supporters of NCP, ABVP
- Principal filed then withdrew complaint about anti-national slogans
- Want cops to inquire if students shouted anti-national slogans: Principal
Police have registered a case of rioting against unidentified people for the clashes on Pune's Fergusson College campus between the members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and ABVP, the student wing linked to the BJP, on Wednesday.
Fergusson College has been annexed, thanks to its Principal,
to the national controversy over what slogans count as "anti-national" and whether students should be punished by universities for making them.
On Tuesday evening, RG Pardeshi, the principal of the famous college in Pune, wrote to the police, asking that students be identified and then penalized for anti-India remarks. 16 hours later, he cancelled his complaint, offering "typographical errors" as an explanation. He has been summoned to Mumbai to explain his actions to the state government.
Speaking to NDTV, Mr Pardeshi clarified that what he had meant to say was that the police should inquire if any students had shouted anti-national slogans.
But anger has flared up on campus. On Wednesday, representatives of Dalit organizations protested at the principal's office, reported news agency ANI. And during a visit to the college, the car windows of politician of Jitendra Awhad were targeted with stones by student activists.
A verbal argument at Tuesday evening's event saw Dalit and Left students teaming up in a shouting match against the speakers, who belonged to the ABVP at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, where the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar and two other students on charges of sedition instigated a national debate on free speech.
At the Fergusson meeting, Left-leaning and Dalit students protested against the event, describing it as "illegal" and chanting
azaadi (freedom) slogans. Upon his release from bail, Mr Kumar delivered a fiery speech in Delhi with repeated references to
azaadi, associated in Kashmir with calls for independence from India. Mr Kumar said students like him want to fight for
azaadi not from India, but from poverty, communalism, caste politics and other issues that divide India.