HYDERABAD: Just when the dust seemed to have settled at the Osmania University following the controversial beef festival, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal on Thursday conducted a ritual at a temple adjacent the Arts College to “purify” the campus. Calling it a symbolic move, the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists conducted a Saraswati Puja at the temple near the Arts College and a Gomatha Puja at the Kanakadurga Nagalakshmi Temple at Basheerbagh.
“Cow slaughter has been banned long time back, but the government has repeatedly failed to implement it. We pray that the government acts soon,” said Nomula Vinod, president, Bajrang Dal Greater Hyderabad. He further clarified,“we do not oppose beef eating by individuals but oppose the same at a sacred place like the university. The puja has been conducted to pray that God may give good conscience to the students who were misled by anti-Hindu elements
that organised the beef festival on the campus.” The ABVP students denied that a purification ritual was conducted on the campus. “The puja was initially planned here but the venue was changed to Basheerbagh. We want to maintain a peaceful atmosphere in the campus,” said Ramakrishna, ABVP president and a student of OU.
Sudharshan, a dalit research scholar who headed the recent beef festival at OU, said, “there is nothing like campus becoming impure. We demand immediate arrest of offenders during the beef festival under the SC/ST Atrocity Act”.