Police officers talk to GNDEC students in Ludhiana. (Express Photo) Police officers talk to GNDEC students in Ludhiana. (Express Photo)

Classes were called off for two days at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College in Ludhiana on Tuesday due to tension between students over the mess menu and other issues.

Students told The Indian Express that tension had been brewing since February last year, when students from other states had organised a Saraswati puja on campus with the principal’s permission and derogatory remarks were allegedly made by some locals. Later, the principal had himself apologised and the matter was resolved, they claimed.

Fresh tension erupted last week when there was an intense argument in hostel no. 2 allegedly between Punjabi and Bihar students over the mess menu. “Dal makhni is served daily, whereas students from Bihar were demanding that their native dish, litti chokha, be cooked at least once a week, to which local students objected. There was a clash too but no one got seriously injured as the principal intervened,” said a student. Students from Bihar also demanded that instead of dal makhni (black dal), they should be given yellow dal once a week, as they had trouble digesting Punjabi dal makhni daily.

However, on Friday (August 30), Sikh students claimed that a poster of slain Khalistan movement leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, put up in hostel no. 1, was blackened with paint, and allegedly blamed students from Bihar. On Monday, a group of 50-60 local students allegedly attacked some students from Bihar in the parking area at around 4 pm. Three students sustained minor injuries and police were called to the spot.

A student of the college, who hails from Bihar, said, “The college administration and even teachers do not listen to the genuine demands of students from other states here. We do not even know who Bhindranwale is…Maybe some mischievous elements blackened his poster to instigate, but we did not do it. However, on Monday evening, local students thrashed a group of students from other states using hockey sticks. All we demanded was a menu of our choice for a day in a week.”

Students from Bihar then started tweeting about the issue and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adiyananth, alleging that they are being “harassed” in Punjab by local students.

Some local students on the other hand alleged that Bihari students had “disrespected” their “saint” Bhindranwale, and should be booked for the offence. They staged a protest outside the college Tuesday and some organisations (which had earlier protested against the Bargari sacrilege cases) also turned up to support them. The protest was lifted later after police intervened.

The college is managed and run by the Nankana Sahib Education Trust under the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). At least 60 per cent students being local Punjabis.

College principal Sehijpal Singh said that religious issues are a personal matter and no religious programme is allowed inside premises. “Students can practise religious things at their own level but administration doesn’t organise anything. They had some issues over the mess menu, which we will solve,” he said.

Asked about the Bhindranwale poster, he said, “Hostels are large spaces and maybe some student installed it. It wasn’t in our knowledge. There was some mischief but it has been sorted now. Some protesters from outside were trying to instigate students on religious lines but it has been sorted.”

Additional DCP-2 Jaskiran Singh Teja said that students from both sides have been counselled. “The matter has been resolved amicably, and we have counselled them. There were minor injuries to some students,” he added.

However, students hailing from other states alleged that they were locked up inside hostels on Tuesday and not allowed to move out as local students protested outside.

Several police personnel headed by ADCP-2 were deployed on campus Tuesday. The college website said that “due to some administrative reasons, classes will not be held on 3rd & 4th September”.

Some teachers called the incident a “complete administrative failure”, adding that corrective measures were not taken despite the tension last year.

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