JNU episode finds echo in OU

Hyderabad: Mild tension prevailed on the Osmania University campus after the students of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) disrupted the protest being conducted by the students belonging to All India Students’ Federation (AISF), Progressive Democratic Students’ Union (PDSU), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Dalit Bahujan Students’ Association (DBSA) demanding the immediate release of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on the sedition charges on Friday in Delhi.

About 30 students of AISF, PDSU, SFI and DBSA who gathered at the University College of Arts and Social Sciences, OU, raised slogans against the Union government and demanded the immediate release of the student leader. “Kanhaiya is in no way related to the protest organised by some JNU students in support of Afzal Guru. Just because he turned up and extended solidarity to the protesting students of the University of Hyderabad over Rohith’s issue, he has been arrested on charges of sedition,” said R N Shankar, state Secretary of AISF.

Meanwhile, OU ABVP leader Kadiyam Raju questioned the authority of the university in allowing some students to hold protests in support of a person who has been accused of indulging in anti-national activities. “The JNU students’ union president has been framed. We are ready to take up a debate and hold discussions in any forum on the issue. But we will not accept protests in support of terrorist activities,” he claimed.

The ABVP cadre then forced the students of other organisations to abandon their protest. When some students tried to burn the effigy of the Union government, some 30 members of ABVP halted the event and tore the effigy before it could be lit. This resulted in a scuffle and exchange of blows among the students. Sensing violence, the police swung into action and detained four students of AISF, PDSU, SFI and DBSA and 10 students of ABVP. They were taken to Amberpet and Afzalgunj police stations.