ABVP says invitation to Aishe Ghosh to JU violates norms; SFI

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Tuesday claimed that the SFI has violated "all established principles" by inviting an "outsider" like Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh to campaign for the Jadavpur University elections.

The Students' Federation of India (SFI) hit back at the RSS' student wing, saying it too had invited an "outsider" such as Union Minister Babul Supriyo in its programme inside the JU campus in September last year.

"After coming to know about the SFI's plans, we took up the issue with the registrar. We told her that an outsider cannot be allowed to campaign within the campus," ABVP JU unit leader Nikhil Das told reporters here.

 

JU Registrar Snehamanju Basu on Monday said, "We have not been formally approached by anyone regarding any programme of Aishe Ghosh. We will decide after considering all angles after getting a formal intimation."

The ABVP leader said there would be no objection if Ghosh attends a meeting outside the campus.

"We, however, oppose on principle Ghosh's meddling in the affairs of the JU," Das said.

Claiming that JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh had become synonymous with anti-fascism protests, the SFI's JU unit on Monday said it has invited her to take part in an anti-CAA rally here on February 14 and she has accepted it.

Ghosh will also campaign for candidates of the CPI(M)'s students wing for the JU union election to be held on February 19.

Ghosh had suffered head injuries during the violence at the JNU on the night of January 5 as a group of masked people armed with sticks attacked students and teachers, besides damaging property on the campus.

The SFI's JU unit leader Ushashi Paul said the ABVP did not have any problem when it had invited Babul Supriyo, who is also not related to the JU, to attend its programme inside the university campus.

"But when we are inviting Aishe Ghosh, they have a problem. Is it because she has become the face of student protests?" Paul said.

Supriyo was shown black flags and heckled by a section of students at the JU where he had gone to address a seminar organised by the ABVP on September 19 last year. He was "rescued" by state Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. Later on the same day, properties of the university were ransacked by a group of students allegedly owing allegiance to the ABVP.

Referring to that incident, Das

said, "We have urged the JU authorities to conduct a full probe into the chain of incidents on September 19, but it is yet to be done."

He said an impartial probe will reveal that the ABVP was not involved in damaging of properties at the campus.

Das claimed that contrary to perception, the JU is not a stronghold of the Left and there has been an upsurge of nationalist forces like the ABVP in the campus.

The RSS-affiliated ABVP has for the first time fielded candidates for eight central panel posts - four in arts and four in engineering faculties - for the February 19 students' union polls in the JU.

Besides the ABVP and the SFI, the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad and others are in the fray for the students' union polls to be held after a gap of three years.