Students’ wings vow to leave colleges alone

Omkar Kadam

resolution

atmosphere

the national

journalism

Jawaharlal Nehru

seal

Shrikant Pathak

Jitendra Awhad

Shiv Sena

THE RESOLUTION

It has been a quick and seamless turnaround for Omkar Kadam. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) member — who was charged for allegedly threatening Ranade Institute’s students over planning to invite Kanhaiya Kumar to their campus — is now a signatory to a resolution not to barge into college campuses and “disrupt” the academic atmosphere, passed by 20 students’ unions and youth wings of political parties.They will be organising a mass rendition ofanthem at the historic Shaniwar Wada on Monday evening (5 pm), alongside pledges of national integration, under the banner of Pune Vidyarthi Chalwal (Pune Students Movement). “Campuses should not become political battlefields,” asserted Kadam, quick to prove his innocence in the face of threat charges. “On Wednesday, BJYM went to the Fergusson College (FC) campus only to counter Awhad, who had no business coming into the campus and politicising the issue. I believe students should join politics, but there should be positive activism on campuses,” he insisted.Only a couple of days ago, a non-cognisable offence had been registered with the Deccan Gymkhana police station against him, after complaints by students from Savitribai Phule Pune University’s (SPPU)department at Ranade Institute. He had reportedly threatened them with “dire consequences” if they invitedUniversity Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kumar for a talk. But, Kadam told Mirror that political vultures have already begun feeding off the issue.And, now that Ranade Institute is determined to host Kumar, this resolution has been perfectly timed. It even received aof approval from deputy commissioner of police (special branch I), who looks after the students affairs at the commissionerate. “It is a welcome move by some organisations not to disrupt peace on the college campuses. On Monday, these students’ groups will be hosting a programme, before which I will be meeting them. Such meetings between police and students unions will help in breaking the ice and knowing the undercurrents of students’ activities.” Mirror had reported on Friday about the Special Branch’s plan to gauge students’ political affiliations in a bid to stem partisan tiffs on campus (‘Cops map students’ political fault lines’, PM, Mar 25) in the wake of the clashes at FC.On Wednesday, members of the BJYM — the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) youth wing — had clashed with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers after NCP MLAcame to meet the FC principal about his letter, demanding action against students for raising anti-national slogans on campus. Stones were pelted at his vehicle; police and his bodyguards had to pull out weapons to disperse the mob. Luckily, nobody was injured. An officer bearer of Yuva Sena, aaffiliated youth wing, shared, “After the FC incident, we thought there is a need to take serious decisions to keep politics away from campuses. We organised a meeting with all students’ unions and political party youth wings and passed a resolution that no organisation will allow its workers to enter college campuses and disrupt the academic atmosphere.”Kadam rubbished allegations that he had threatened to beat up students if they invited the JNUSU president, saying it was just a healthy discussion. “I told them that if they want to hear him, they can go to Delhi and BJYM would bear the travel expenses. But, we will not allow Kumar to enter Pune as he is facing sedition charges. Let the court acquit him, then we will welcome him with open arms,” Kadam declared.It all began on Tuesday, after JNU’s Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) president Alok Singh came to the FC campus for an informal talk called, ‘Truth of JNU’, regarding its February 9 incident. The college had denied permission. Nonetheless, ABVP went ahead with the programme, which was disrupted by Left-leaning students’ unions and Ambedkarwadi students, with both sides raising slogans. The matter was blown out of proportion by college principal Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, who wrote to the police demanding action against students, who raised ‘anti-national’ slogans. Later, he withdrew the letter, saying it was an error on the part of his office. But, the damage had already been done.■ No leader from any political party shall go to any college campus and disrupt academic atmosphere■ Police should not randomly support any political party or college management; legal action to be taken appropriately.■ Pune students are wise; they will not tolerate anything anti-national.