PU campus tense after permission for left-leaning event denied

Tension prevailed on the Panjab University (PU) campus today as left-leaning Students For Society (SFS) activists staged a demonstration after they were denied permission by the authorities to organising a seminar.
SFS had proposed a seminar on the campus today which was to be addressed by human rights activist and journalist Seema Azad.
She, along with her husband, was arrested by the UP Police in 2010 after being charged with sedition for alleged Maoist links. They were later released on bail.
Even as Seema was not allowed for the event, police took SFS president Damanpreet Singh into preventive custody so as to maintain law and order on the campus.

However, SFS activists staged a protest outside the office of Vice Chancellor, demanding they should be allowed to hold the event which was to be addressed by Seema, party members Arshdeep Singh said, adding police should immediately release Damanpreet.
The SFS activists threatened to hold the event outside the office of the Vice Chancellor even as rival ABVP opposed.

Yesterday, activists of ABVP had staged a Tiranga Yatra on the campus against the SFS for allegedly including Naxalite extremists in the audience.
"We will not allow Seema to enter the university," ABVP member Harmanjot Singh Gill said. "How can SFS dub Army as rapist," he said?

SFS members said they expect support from the authorities of PU for peacefully conducting the seminar.
"When PU authorities allowed the ABVP to hold Tiranga Yatra yesterday, we expect them to cooperate with us too," SFS member Harman said.
"It is surprising to see the name of Naxal leader Seema among the speakers in the seminar. The PU authorities have withdrawn the permission to SFS for the event," university syndicate member Subhash Sharma said.
The stalemate over holding the seminar continued as SFS members were adamant to hold the event.
Earlier, security was beefed up at the university to avoid any untoward incident in view of the SFS proposed event.

Heavy police force has been deployed on the campus, officials said.
Earlier on February 27, the echo of the violence in Delhi's Ramjas College was felt on campus of PU where activists of ABVP and rival Students For Society (SFS) clashed with each other.
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Meanwhile, radical Dal Khalsa's youth wing 'Students Youth of Punjab' (SYP) also joined the SFS protesters.
SYP president Paramjit Singh addressed the protesters and condemned the "goondaism" of ABVP.
Freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's nephew Jagmohan Singh too spoke on the occasion and strongly opposed the authorities for allegedly suppressing the voice of students.

"Its an attack on our freedom (by not allowing the seminar)...We may differ on opinion, but it does not mean we are anti-national," he said addressing SFS protesters near the Vice Chancellor's office.
Seema also made a brief appearance near the venue and said "fascists" forces like BJP and RSS are the challenge before the students.
"It is important to find out solutions to tackle fascists forces for which places like educational institutes are the right platform," she said.
"The goons of ABVP under the patronage of their political bosses in power (BJP), were threatening students and their critics who have spoken against their goondaism," said SYP head Paramjit and reiterated their groups' resolve is "not to tolerate any non-sense by these lumpen elements in Punjab".

Later, Paramjit alongwith 50 other students were taken into preventive custody, police said.
Dal Khalsa leader H S Cheema, who also reached the spot where SFS activists were protesting, alleged that the ABVP under the patronage of BJP has made in-roads into the educational institutions in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi and was poisoning the peaceful atmosphere of the educational institutions.