Pune: Members of BJYM, the youth wing of the BJP, ransacked a Bangladesh food stall during a global event at a private university in Pune and set the national flag of the neighbouring country on fire.
Separately, they also allegedly painted the Bangladesh flag on a road and raised slogans against Dhaka’s “anti-India” stand.
A formal complaint has not yet been lodged by MIT World Peace University (WPU) regarding vandalism.
A BJYM office-bearer confirmed the incident.
When contacted, Kothrud police station Senior Inspector Sandip Deshmane said that the incident occurred after the event. “We are probing,” he said without elaborating.
Food stalls were set up by students from different nationalities as part of the World Cultural Festival (WCF) organised on the MIT-WPU campus on Tuesday.
“An unfortunate incident occurred. Preliminary information indicates that certain unauthorised individuals entered the campus premises. The University is in the process of lodging a formal complaint with the police,” according to a statement issued by Ganesh Pokale, Registrar of MIT-WPU.
He added that the WCF is organised every year to celebrate cultural diversity and provide a platform to international students. Similar events are organised by other universities in the city every year.
The University remains committed to ensuring a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for all, he said.
Pune city BJYM president Dushyant Mohol said that the incident occurred after students at the Bangladesh food stall refused to remove their national flag and planted another one.
“As a Bangladesh flag was displayed at the stall, some local students asked them to remove it, citing Bangladesh’s current anti-India stand. Instead of removing the flag, the students at the stall put up another flag, which irked local students. When we came to know about it, we ransacked the stall and burned their flag,” Mohol told PTI.
A video of some men ransacking the stall and burning the Bangladesh flag while raising anti-Bangladesh slogans has gone viral.
On Wednesday, BJYM members allegedly painted the Bangladeshi flag on a road and raised slogans against the neighbouring nation.
