BENGALURU: Tension prevailed at Azim Premji University (APU) near Sarjapur here Tuesday after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student organisation aligned with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), barged into the campus protesting a scheduled discussion at the university.Police said around 25 ABVP activists were taken into preventive custody. Two platoons of the state reserve police force were deployed at APU as a precaution.The programme, titled ‘Kunan Poshpora’ and scheduled for 6 pm, was organised by Spark APU, a reading circle affiliated with All India Students Association (AISA), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.ABVP claimed the discussion sought to promote anti-national views.Posters for the event, titled ‘Kunan Poshpora — 35 years after the incident occurred in Kashmir’, referred to allegations that 35 women were gang raped by security forces in the villages of Kunan and Poshpora in Kupwara district. The poster stated that no convictions had followed and invited participants to discuss “violence by the Indian State in Kashmir”.By evening, ABVP activists gathered outside the university gate, shouting slogans. They allegedly smeared black paint on and damaged the university’s name board before entering the campus.“They tried to scale the gate and force their way in and were moved to Sarjapur police station,” an investigating officer said.In a statement condemning those who had barged into the campus, APU clarified it had not granted permission for the event and that no discussion was held on university premises. With the programme called off, large groups of students led by AISA later assembled inside the campus to protest ABVP’s actions.In a statement, ABVP alleged that through AISA-affiliated Spark, gatherings were being organised to promote anti-national ideas and portray Indian soldiers as perpetrators. It further claimed the programme aimed to condemn Operation Sindoor and support Naxal and Maoist ideologies, thereby “sowing anti-national thoughts in young minds”. ABVP demanded that the university’s recognition be revoked.Aratrika, AISA general secretary, Bengaluru chapter, termed the incident “a clash of ideologies”. She accused ABVP of attempting to stifle debate in academic spaces and intimidate students into silence.APU slams ‘ruckus’In a statement, APU said: “Those who had forced their way into our campus were protesting an event that they claimed was going to be held on our campus. Azim Premji University had not authorised any event of such nature. This event, allegedly planned by a small group of students, did not happen at all.” The statement further said: “We strongly condemn the ruckus and violence that was unleashed on our campus.”
