Desecration of Kargil war memorial triggers protests
VIJAY DIWAS Temporary set up was in Hyderabad varsity campus
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the University of Hyderabad have accused the administration of “desecrating” a temporary memorial for Kargil war heroes they had erected on Wednesday night to commemorate the Kargil Diwas.
The student wing of the RSS had organised a candle-light rally to pay homage to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Kargil War in 1999. At the southern shopping complex on the university campus, where the rally ended, the students erected a temporary memorial — a wooden gun placed upside down on a cement platform.
They garlanded the memorial and placed candles around it. The group then observed silence, raised slogans in glory of the war heroes while some held placards and pictures of soldiers who had died in the war.
“We wanted to keep the war memorial for at least 24 hours as a mark of respect. It was no disturbance to anybody. However, on Thursday morning, the university authorities sent the security personnel and pulled down the memorial. They destroyed the candles and removed the placards,” Uday Ainala, president of ABVP, UoH unit, told Hindustan Times.
“The authorities could have informed us and we would have removed the memorial on our own in a graceful manner. But without informing us, the security staff ransacked the area. This is nothing short of desecration of Kargil memorial.”
The students lodged a protest with the authorities and later decided to construct a permanent memorial for Kargil war heroes on the university campus. “By the evening, we built a cement structure in the form of a memorial with a wooden gun placed on it. Let the university authorities remove it. We will show how the student community would react,” Ainala added.
The university’s official spokesperson Vinod Pavrala was not available for comment, despite repeated calls.
The University of Hyderabad caught nationwide attention last year when its research scholar Rohith Vemula, a Dalit, committed suicide inside his hostel room.
BJP office in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram was attacked in the early hours of Friday allegedly by a group of CPI(M) workers.
BJP’s state president Kummanam Rajasekharan was in the office when the attack took place.
The assailants came on three bikes and also attacked two policemen who were stationed on duty outside the party office.
The BJP released CCTV footage purportedly showing the involvement of SFI/DYFI leaders in the attack.
Later CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son’s residence was also attacked.
Violent incidents were reported from many parts of the district.
“We have given a deadline to the police to arrest the accused. If we don’t get justice, the party will be forced to defend its offices,” said general secretary MT Ramesh.
The CPI(M), meanwhile, ahs rejected the BJP’s allegation that its student leaders had orchestrated the attack. The party’s state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said, “It’s a ploy to divert attention from the medical scam in which many (BJP) leaders are involved”.