The RSS on Tuesday launched a shakha (branch) at Jadavpur University, with some of its members declaring that they would “uproot Maoism” from the campus.
A group of university employees gathered at the football ground around 6.30am, took an oath and performed physical drills to mark the launch of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha.
“Jadavpur University was founded on the mantra of nationalism under the guidance of Rishi Aurobindo. But over the years, the university deviated from that path and descended into Naxalite activities and Maoism. We have to uproot this Maoism,” said Palash Maji, a senior laboratory attendant in the physics department.
“We have taken a vow to remove the Naxalite elements because of whom JU earned a bad name. We have to save the campus,” added Maji, who is leading the shakha.
During an election rally ahead of the second phase of the Bengal Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described JU as a hub of “anti-national slogans”.
A group of JU employees performs drills at the RSS shakha on the football ground on the campus on Tuesday morning
Tuesday’s drills were conducted opposite the Blue Earth workshop, known for its lathe and mechanical work facilities.
According to Maji, the spot was earlier used to screen Buddha in a Traffic Jam, Vivek Agnihotri’s film exploring alleged links between academia, Naxalites and NGOs in India.
The RSS shakha plans to hold the hour-long assembly on campus every morning.
Maji said the physical drills would soon include “dand prayog” or lathi khela, a regular feature of RSS training camps. “We have started with drills. Soon, it will expand to dand prayog, which instils a sense of bravery and teaches volunteers discipline and steadfastness,” he said. “Route marches with lathis will follow.”
Maji proudly added that JU was the first university campus in Bengal where the RSS had formally started a shakha.
JU has often drawn criticism from Right-wing groups over its political activities, graffiti and protest slogans.
Slogans such as “Azad Kashmir” and “Stop Operation Kagar” — referring to the Centre’s intensified anti-Maoist operations along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border in 2022-23 — had earlier appeared on campus walls.
The university later whitewashed the “Azad Kashmir” slogan after protests and painted over the other slogan in black.
A JU professor, requesting anonymity, said the BJP’s strong performance in the Assembly elections had encouraged RSS supporters to assert themselves on campus.
Student groups on the Left strongly criticised the move.
Indranuj Ray, unit president of the ultra-Left Revolutionary Students’ Front at JU, said: “The RSS wants to eliminate the Left from the campus because they cannot tolerate those who question their divisive agenda. They are trying to terrorise students. We will fight them ideologically and organisationally.”
Ray was injured in March 2025 after allegedly being hit by a car carrying then education minister Bratya Basu during a student protest on the campus.