By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Jammu: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliated student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has been banned from holding any activity or event in almost all the educational institutes of Jammu division of J&K state, reported newspaper, The Tribune.
The ban on ABVP comes in the back drop of BJP sharing power with PDP in the state.
ABVP is mostly operating in Jammu University and its affiliated colleges across various district in Jammu divison. However, it is important to point out that no official circular regarding the ban has been issued by any college or university in this regard.
“After the refusal of the authorities of Jammu University to give permission to the ABVP to hold any function on the campus, the administration of different degree colleges of the state have decided to follow suit and debar the organisation from any activity,” the newspaper reported.
Quoting its sources, the Tribune claimed that ABVP had sought permission from Government Women College Prade, Jammu for holding national executive committee meet, which was out rightly rejected, even though the state Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP Leader, Nirmal Singh was the guest for the event.
“Authorities of the Education Department have given clear instructions to heads of various educational institutions not to allow the ABVP to hold any function on the premises of their respective institutions. The authorities of the Women College has made it clear, that an organisation like the ABVP would not be allowed to “pollute” the atmosphere of the college,” Tribune quoted a source in Women College.
Importantly, ABVP was at forefront of continuous protest over NIT issue in educational institutes across Jammu, albeit the issue was resolved and normalcy had limped back to normalcy in the NIT campus. Many cases of harassment of Kashmiri students were reported across educational institutes in Jammu after the NIT incident in which ABVP is believed to have played a significant role.
“ABVP has made it a norm by disrupting the calm atmosphere of Jammu university. Whenever classes start in university, they just come in and ask us to join their protest on every other day over some political issue, which is none of our concern, as we are here to study. Many local students do join them, which leads to cancellation of classes and this practice is seriously affecting our studies,” a Law Student from Jammu University told TwoCircles.net .
Meanwhile, J&K BJP leaders have come at forefront in the defense of ABVP. J&K, legislative assembly speaker, Kavinder Gupta has termed the move as unfortunate and related it to depriving the organization of its political rights.
“In a democratic system like ours, every organisation has the right to hold its activities.I do not think any reason to debar the ABVP from holding activities on campus,” he said.