KARIMNAGAR: Satavahana University campus was turned into a battleground on Monday when students belonging to Dalit unions and ABVP clashed with each other and resorted to stone pelting. Trouble began when the students belonging to ABVP alleged that the Dalit students had burned a portrait of ‘Bharat Mata’.The members of the Dalit students’ unions organised a protest on Monday morning wherein they burned ‘Manusmriti’ at the Mahatma Jyothiba Phule statue in front of the SU campus. Incidentally, students belonging to ABVP too had zeroed in on the same venue to conduct former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s birthday celebrations.
While the protests and the celebrations were going on side-by-side, the ABVP leaders picked an argument with the other group alleging that they had set the portrait of ‘Bharat Mata’ on fire. The argument turned into a clash and soon the two groups started pelting stones at each other.Karimnagar police led by commissioner VB Kamalasan Reddy reached the spot even as the students climbed the university entrance gate to escape the cops, but were eventually dispersed.
Giving the incident a political angle, BJP state official spokesperson Bandi Sanjay, along with district president K Srinivas Reddy, also visited the college campus and argued with the commissioner over the alleged burning of the portrait. “We don’t have any objection with the protest against Manusmriti, but setting fire to Bharat Mata portrait is unpardonable,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the commissioner said that the situation was under control. Based on CCTV footage, cases would be registered against those who have violated the law, he said. He suspected that activists of Telangana Vidyarthi Vibhagam, reportedly affiliated to extremist groups, and some Left party student leaders may have been involved in the incident. He said the students did not have permission for the meet.
The SU authorities announced that hostels and messes would remain closed from Tuesday. Also, the varsity has indefinitely postponed the exams scheduled to be held in the coming days.