ABVP, SFI CLASH AS RAMJAS ROW SEEPS INTO PUNE UNIVERSITY

PUNE: Activists of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) clashed with members of the Left-leaning Students Federation of India (SFI) at the Savitribai Phule Pune University on Friday night, following a dispute over putting up posters on the Ramjas College controversy.

Five students sustained minor injuries in the incident, and both groups have lodged complaints against each other.

Sources said ABVP activists burnt an effigy of JNU student Umar Khalid, who was arrested for sedition last year, on Friday morning. SFI members retaliated later that evening by putting up posters condemning Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde for “threatening” their colleagues at a Solapur polytechnic college – an act that raised the ABVP’s hackles.

“We were attacked by ABVP activists, including some outsiders,” said SFI secretary Vlas Pable. The AVBP, however, defended its action. “We are opposed to inviting Umar Khalid to Ramjas College,” said ABVP secretary Pradeep Gawde.