SFI, AISA protests against ABVP assault on members

Mumbai: Members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and All Indian Students Association (AISA) along with several students from different colleges on Monday held a protest demonstration against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) alleging that their student members were attacked by the right wing body in Pune and Delhi.

Rameshwar Shere, president, SFI Mumbai, said, “ABVP is attacking the members of student groups who do not agree with their views and it is unacceptable. In a democracy, every view or opinion should be accepted. They are spreading terror and violence in the college campuses nationwide.”

On Monday, around 100 students gathered outside Dadar station and shouted slogans against the ABVP, RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The protestors claimed that they are against the ABVP, which they said has resorted to violence by attacking their members.

Two groups allegedly belonging to ABVP and AISA got into a scuffle last week in Delhi University’s Ramjas College over the issue of inviting for a seminar Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid, who was charged with sedition last year. On Friday, two groups of SFI and ABVP got into a scuffle that resulted in 12 students from both the groups getting arrested during a protest outside Pune University.   However, political analysts have claimed that the reason behind clashes between student unions picking up pace in the state is because from next academic year, student elections will be held in the state after a gap of 20 years.

Meanwhile Rohit Chandode, secretary, ABVP Mumbai, said, “We are not going to tolerate anything that is anti-national and when it comes to attacking it was the AISA and SFI who attacked ABVP members first in Delhi and Pune.”