KOCHI: A year has passed since SFI member Abhimanyu was brutally killed inside the hostel premises of Maharaja’s College here. However, a decision to honour the student leader with a memorial is snowballing into a controversy with KSU accusing the CPM’s student wing of trying to gain political mileage out of it.
With the college union elections happening in a month or so, the issue is taking on a political colour though SFI has denied having any connection with the polls and the setting up of the memorial.
According to KSU leader A V Jayashankar, the memorial is being built on the campus without any permission. “This is government property. So how can they build such a structure without getting permission from the authorities concerned? Neither the principal nor the governing council knows anything about the memorial,” he said.
On being asked about various other memorials erected on the campus, he said, “Of course, we do have memorials for students who died on campus. But all those memorials are subtle in nature. They don’t have any signs that pinpoint the political leanings of the person,” he said.
However, the very design of the memorial set up on the campus against the directive of the principal and the District Collector projects the agenda of SFI, he added. “We will be taking up the issue through the right channels. We have nothing against setting up a memorial for Abhimanyu, but it should not be a political one,” he said. KSU is planning to go the legal way to resolve the issue.
However, SFI leaders and other students of the college denied any political angle to the memorial. According to SFI district secretary Amal CS, the organisation doesn’t have anything to do with the memorial. “The entire project right from the design to execution has been done by the students. They wanted to immortalise the ideology followed by Abhimanyu. He loved the college very much and this reflects in the name he used. He liked to be known as Abhimanyu Maharajas,” said Amal. His ideology was apolitical, he added.
How can a decision taken in consultation with over 2,000 students of the college be termed a political one, asked Amal. “A request letter with signatures of over 2,000 students was handed over to the college authorities before the work began. Also, the construction of the memorial’s base began nearly a month ago. Why this hullabaloo now? Of course, it is the KSU that has a political agenda, not us,” he said.
Meanwhile, the principal in charge Dr K G Jayamol said, “This is an issue between the students. When it was brought to our notice that such a construction is happening on the campus, we asked them to stop it and notified the authorities concerned who have the power to take decisions on such matters.”
As of now, the college has sought the help of the police department to prevent any untoward incidents from happening on the campus, she added. College governing council chairman Dr P K Raveendran also gave a similar statement.
A young life snuffed out
Twenty-year-old Abhimanyu, who hailed from Vattavada in Idukki district, was stabbed to death inside the hostel premises of Maharaja’s College on July 2, 2018. The week that was to be a stepping stone to a new world for the first-year students who had joined the college turned into a nightmare when Abhimanyu along with two other students belonging to SFI was attacked by Campus Front activists.
The SFI is planning events throughout the state to remember Abhimanyu on July 2, the first death anniversary of the slain student leader.