West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday sent a strong message to Kolkata’s Jadavpur University students, saying his government will not allow the campus to remain a free ground for Maoist and Palestine sympathisers and elements seeking Kashmir’s independence.
Addressing a large crowd that gathered outside the sprawling JU campus to attend a Bharatiya Janata Party-held mass signing of Vande Mataram on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, Adhikari said, “You keep saying azaadi (independence). What azaadi are you looking for? Azaadi to consume heroine and ganja? You are the tukre tukre gang.”
Since the state declared a holiday on Raksha Bandhan, JU was closed and all six gates were locked when the BJP event was held.
“You don’t express grief or hold rallies when 45 CRPF jawans are killed by terrorists in Awantipora and tourists belonging to a specific religion are gunned down at Pahalgam. But anti-war rallies are held when Operation Sindoor is carried out against Pakistan,” Adhikari said, adding that being a centre of excellence, JU demanded honour.
“I know the disease. I also know the medicine,” he added.
The chief minister made the remarks days after a wooden emblem installed on one of the gates of Jadavpur University was damaged on August 20 afternoon when members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly tried to enter the campus following a clash between its members and supporters of Left student unions the previous night, university professors said.
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), alleged that ABVP members brought in outsiders to carry out the violence. The All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) raised the same allegation.
The university lodged a police complaint, but no arrests have been made yet.
Adhikari said, “I have a message for ABVP workers across India. You have cured Delhi’s JNU and Hyderabad’s Osmania University. Jadavpur is left. This, too, will be done. A storm of nationalism has started. It is unstoppable.”
Mentioning Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji, the Maoist commander who established a base in Bengal’s western districts during the Left Front era and was killed by police after Mamata Banerjee came to power, the chief minister said, “The time has come to settle the final score. Either they will stay or we will stay. Hear me out. You say “Kashmir maange azadi” (Kashmir demands freedom). I am saying we will capture Pakistan occupied Kashmir. A poster on a wall of the arts department hostel says, “Red Salute Kishenji.” Who is Kishenji? He raised the call for boycotting polls. He wanted a separate state stretching from the Gomati to Gorabari rivers Replace your Free Palestine slogan with Free PoK slogan.”
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After the August 20 incident, the ABVP alleged that senior office-bearers of the Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) planned the damage to the JU logo. The ABVP also lodged a police complaint.
“The state higher education department is watching. I am also watching. Lets see how long can JUTA leaders save them. We wll deploy drones to find out who is shipping cough syrup inside the campaus and who is consuming drugs. I am that police minister who knows how to clear garbage,” the chief minister said.
Adhikari alleged that the CPI(M), during its 34-year-long regime, and the TMC shielded Maoist elements at JU for electoral gains.
“The Maoist elements did not vote for TMC but they gave only one dividend. They raised the “No vote to BJP” and “No vote to Narendra Modi” slogans during elections. Mamata kept the Maoists alive for this political dividend,” he said.
Referring to the recent Delhi agitation by the Cockroach Janata Party over the alleged NEET question paper leaks, he said, “We did not hear such slogans at Jantar Mantar and the agitation was lifted after the demands were met. But in Kolkata, Maoist slogans were raised. Around 800 students who have come from other states to study at JU were forced to take part in rallies. The Kolkata rally didn’t raise slogans about NEET or employment.”
JU computer science professor Nandini Mukherjee, who unsuccessfully contested against Mamata Banerjee in the 2011 assembly polls on a CPI(M) ticket, countered Adhikari. “He made wrong allegations. There are no Maoists in JU. It is a centre of education.”
Neither the CPI(M) nor TMC leaders reacted to Adhikari’s speech till 8 pm.
