Exit Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad. Enter Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

At Surendranath College in Sealdah, hordes of ABVP supporters swarmed the campus on Wednesday, almost wiping out any trace of the Trinamool students’ union that dominated it until recently.

Saffron flags fluttered across the campus.

ABVP supporters assembled outside the students’ union rooms, which were cordoned off by police after a gun was reportedly found there on Tuesday evening.

No Trinamool supporter was visible on a campus where the party had been the last word until a few weeks ago. From having a say in student admissions to organising events, they allegedly controlled funds. The tide has turned.

Not a word of protest was heard as supporters of the ABVP, the student arm linked to the RSS, raised slogans like “TMCP shame, shame” and “Ek hi nara, ek hi naam, Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram”.

Around 1.30pm, saffron flags filled the campus as protests intensified after the recovery of a gun and bags of termite-eaten currency notes from the college.

Among those present at the college were BJP supporters from colleges such as Bangabasi, Jaipuria and several others.

As ABVP supporters swelled in number, some Surendranath students spoke about an alleged “admission racket run by the TMCP union”.

“They used to fix the price of UG seats. I had to pay ₹60,000 last year to get admitted,” a second-year student alleged outside the union room.

Trinamool student leaders had reportedly disappeared since the second half of May 4.

“Those who used to run the admission racket are now absconding and have switched off their phones,” another student said.

Earlier, the SFI, the student wing of the CPM, had taken the lead in protests against alleged excesses by the Trinamool camp. But SFI supporters were absent on Wednesday.

The ABVP protest was initially led by Ananta Baruy, the outfit’s media in-charge, later joined by functionaries from across the city.

The campus, adjoining the Sealdah flyover, houses Surendranath College (day), Surendranath Law College (morning) and Surendranath Evening College.

Some ABVP supporters guided journalists to a room at the rear of the college where termite-infested currency notes stashed in trolley bags were found on Tuesday. They also showed the college’s fourth floor, which has two AC rooms with beds and mattresses.

Baruy said the outfit was emerging as the voice of students across campuses in Calcutta. “Students trust the ABVP now. They know only the ABVP can stand up to and expose the excesses of the TMCP in the past 15 years,” he told Metro.

“Hundreds of students from several city colleges joined the protest at our call because the ABVP is now a force to reckon with,” he added.

The cash and firearm discovery came within a fortnight of BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh writing to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, alleging that the Surendranath students’ union had collected several crores and still retained over ₹1.5 crore.

Ghosh, a local resident, visited the campus on Tuesday evening.

According to many on campus, he had played a role in mobilising support for the ABVP’s entry, riding on the back of the cash haul.

After a day-long protest, ABVP’s Kolkata Mahanagar secretary Swadhin Halder submitted a memorandum to the teacher-in-charge, seeking an impartial probe and strict action against those responsible for allegedly hiding cash and a gun on the premises.