Over 25 members of the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India protested against the visit of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to Lucknow University on Wednesday and dubbed him “a symbol of hatred in Indian society”.
They chanted “Bhagwat go back” and “RSS Murdabad” and tried to block the road through which the RSS sarsanghchalak was entering the campus to attend a programme the university was organising to mark the centenary year of the outfit. A large number of policemen deployed there resorted to mild force to disperse the students and detained some of them.
A student leader who didn’t want to be named said: “Over two dozen students have been taken into custody. We are opposing the RSS centenary celebrations at LU. The university is run with taxpayers’ money for academic purposes. The RSS is a private ideological platform that has nothing to do with the welfare of the country. We don’t want LU to hold any function on the RSS or allow Bhagwat, a hatemonger, to enter the campus. Unfortunately, the university administration fortified the campus for him.”
Vishal Singh, the national coordinator of the NSUI, said: “The police detained us in batches and released us after Bhagwat left. The university is organising programmes to support the RSS, but they refuse to allow us to organise any event. Bhagwat is poisoning the society and we oppose him. He symbolises hatred in Indian society.”
Jay Prakash Saini, the LU vice-chancellor, said it was a “cultural function” that was attended by many dignitaries.
Bhagwat’s visit to LU comes amid an ongoing controversy over the University Grants Commission’s equity regulations that seek to shield SCs, STs, OBCs and the economically weaker sections from caste harassment. The Supreme Court on January 29 stayed the regulations, saying the framework is “prima facie vague”, can have “very sweeping consequences” and may end up dividing society with a “dangerous impact”.
LU had also witnessed massive protests against the proposed regulations.
On a two-day visit to Lucknow, Bhagwat had said at an event at Saraswati Sishu Mandir in the Uttar Pradesh capital on Tuesday evening that Hindu families should have at least three children. “Although we don’t feel any danger from anybody, we should be alert…. We should also intensify ghar wapsi,” he said, referring to the drive
to bring people back to the Hindu fold.
“The decreasing Hindu population is a matter of concern. According to scientific research, a society becomes weak with time if the average number of children per family is less than three,” Bhagwat claimed, adding that “conversion by allurement should also be stopped immediately”.
“There were only Hindus when this country came into being,” the RSS chief claimed, adding that newly wed couples should be made aware of the “study” that each family should have at least three children.