By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad : The allotment of land in Girls Junior College campus for building a hostel for students of Muslim minority community has sparked off violent protest by the Akhila Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, students wing of the BJP in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh.
The land has come bone of contention since the district collector decided to allot it for the hostel for pre metric students of minority community. Earlier the protest was limited to the girls students of the college but the issue took a communal color after the ABVP leaders took the matter in their hands. They alleged that land allotment to the hostel will come in the way of expansion of the college.
They along with the students took out a protest march to the office of the district collector on Thursday to press their demand to revoke the decision. On not finding the district collector Ahmad Nadeem in his office and not getting any response for other officials they went on a rampage and damaged the office property.
They also stopped the traffic on National Highway No. 7 by holding a demonstration at busy circle creating tension in the town. However police intervened and took 100 girls students in to custody.
The protesting ABVP leaders questioned how the state government can allot land for minorities hostel when the Jammu and Kashmir government had withdrawn the land given to the Amarnath Shrine Board. They demanded that the government should withdraw the land given.
Meanwhile all the Muslim organizations including Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen held a counter demonstration on Friday demanding that hostel should be built at the very same place which was identified by the government earlier.
The leaders of MIM, Movement for Peace and Justice, Jamiatul Ulema and religious leaders participated in the demonstration condemning the attitude of the ABVP.
Tension has built up on the issue when the Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy is all set to lay the foundation stone of the hostel on Sunday and address a meeting.