‘Slogans were not anti-national’

Following the investigations into slogans raised by members of ABVP, Left organisations and an Ambedkarite group at Pune’s Fergusson College on Tuesday, the police on Friday ruled out that not any of those slogans were “anti-national”.

A letter written after the incident by the college principal R.G. Pardeshi, who claimed that “anti-national” slogans were raised on the campus, had caused a flutter. Later, however, Mr Pareshi claimed that there was a typographical error in his letter. The police also said that they have gone through all 29 slogans raised from both the sides, but found out that none of them was anti-national.

ABVP activists, some students from the Left organisations and the Ambedkarite group had heated arguments during an informal discussion organised by the ABVP on ‘Truth of JNU’ at the Fergusson College campus. ABVP’s Jawaharlal Nehru University unit’s president Alok Singh was also present during the event.

ABVP has been organising a series of such events at various colleges. The event at Fegusson college was second in the series. The event was, however, opposed by the Left and the Ambedkarite group on the ground that the college had not given the permission for it to be held. The police, who eventually intervened and dispersed the crowd, said that some students from the Left groups reached the spot and started arguing with the ABVP members. That led to angry exchanges between the groups and shouting of slogans.

Subsequently, Mr Pardeshi wrote a letter to the police seeking investigation into the slogans raised on the campus.

According to the police report, there were total 29 slogans raised by both the groups. ABVP raised 15 slogans which include ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, ‘Vande Mataram’ and the counter group raised total 14 slogans such as ‘Jai Bhim’, ‘Manuwad se azadi’, ‘RSS se azadi’, ‘Kanhaiya Kumar Zindabaad’, ‘Kitne Rohit maronge, ‘Har ghar se Rohit nikalega’. “We have concluded the report with a note that though 29 slogans were raised, none of the slogans was ‘anti-national’ in nature, and submitted it (the report) to higher officials,” a police officer said, on the condition of anonymity. He also said there was no question of sending this report to the college authorities since they have already retracted their letter, demanding police action for raising “anti-national” slogans.