The Central University of Kerala has suspended five students, and police have registered a case against 25 others, after a protest at a seminar marking 150 years of Vande Mataram. Student groups say the action is aimed at Muslim students and is part of an effort to push Hindutva politics on the campus.
According to a report in PTI, the two-day seminar was held on October 6 and 7 at the university’s Periya campus. Students protested against the presence of J Nandakumar, national convenor of Prajna Pravah, an RSS-linked organisation.
PTI reported that the event was jointly organised by the university, the Sahitya Akademi and the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad. Students also said several people who had registered were denied entry. Groups including the SFI, AISF, KSU and MSF took part in the protest.
Bekal police registered a case on their own against 25 students who have not yet been identified. PTI said the FIR cites unlawful assembly, disobeying a lawful order and rioting under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. It alleges the students shouted slogans and refused to leave when told to. Police are checking CCTV footage.
Onmanorama reported that students raised “RSS go back” slogans and disrupted a presentation by chief proctor Prof Sreekumar, who could not finish it. Report also said police claim the students also switched off the microphone, while the protesters say police stopped registered participants from entering and pushed them off. The SFI claims about ten students, including women, had minor injuries.
On Thursday, the chief proctor suspended five students for two weeks and barred them from the campus, classrooms and hostels. PTI named them as SFI activists Sayed Ali S and Aved VB, MSF activists Shabeer and Taqiyuddin, and Mohammed Yasin. Onmanorama and Madhyamam describe Yasin as president of the NSUI unit, while PTI calls him a KSU activist. The order, as quoted by PTI, called the students’ conduct “highly inappropriate in an academic forum.”
Students say the suspensions were issued by the same proctor they had protested against, which they call a conflict of interest. Syed Ali, who is SFI secretary at the university, told Onmanorama that punishing students for raising their voices sets “a disturbing precedent for democratic student participation.”
The students began a night sit-in at the administrative block and have vowed to boycott classes until the orders are withdrawn. Onmanorama said the students’ council chairperson, Vivek, was trying to meet Vice-Chancellor Prof Siddu P Algur.
Student organisations, except the ABVP, have demanded the resignation of chief proctor Sreekumar. The organisations accuse him of selective disciplinary action and of favouring ABVP members. The groups also cited earlier university programmes involving RSS-linked organisations and BJP-linked speakers as evidence of a pattern of saffronisation on the campus.
Mohammed Yasin, one of the five suspended students, meanwhile, denied the claim that the protest was directed against the national song. “We are not against the nation or nationalism. But we are against saffronism,” he said. He argued further that the administration was portraying opposition to the seminar as hostility towards Vande Mataram.
