Baraut Baghpat: Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, allegedly stormed the campus of a 100-year-old Jain educational institute Tuesday and sought to desecrate a community deity’s shrine, creating a fracas that left the leadership of the RSS student wing red-faced.
The Digambar Jain College at Baraut was carrying out a beautification drive on a campus shrine dedicated to the Jain Goddess of learning, Shrutdevi, when members of the ABVP arrived and created a fracas.
Having allegedly mistaken the idol for one of the Hindu deity Saraswati, they objected to the fact that another idol had been placed on top of it, seemingly unaware that the idol of the first Jain tirthankar, Rishabhdev, had been placed over Shrutdevi’s as part of a community tradition.
Three members of the ABVP — who had also shot off a letter to the college threatening a violent agitation against the shrine — have been booked for the episode on the basis of a complaint filed by principal Virendra Singh.
As videos of the episode went viral, the RSS — believed to enjoy support over local Jains — swiftly intervened and asked the ABVP to make amends, a senior member of the Sangh told ThePrint.
The ABVP subsequently issued an apology on Twitter, saying the fracas was the doing of a few odd members and didn’t have organisational backing.
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‘Violent agitation’
According to the 2011 Census, Jains comprise around 10 per cent of the population in Baraut, a city of just over 1.03 lakh people.
The Digambar Jain College was set up in 1916, and it was as part of the institute’s centenary celebrations a few years ago that an idol of Shrutdevi was installed on the campus.
Speaking to ThePrint, Singh said that, over the past four-five months, a beautification drive was underway at the shrine.
At 11 am Tuesday, he added, 15-20 people identifying themselves as ABVP workers stormed the campus and stepped on the shrine with their shoes.
They allegedly said placing the Jain tirthankar’s or spiritual leader’s statue on top of Goddess Saraswati’s amounted to disrespect.
“They climbed on top of the shrine with their shoes and attempted to desecrate the temple.”
Viral videos of the episode show the men responsible for the episode wearing saffron ABVP scarves.
“Till 3 pm, they were shouting slogans and demanded to see the college management. They created a complete atmosphere of indiscipline and locked up students and professors in the respective academic blocks,” Singh said. “They even issued a threat, saying that if the management didn’t come, they would destroy the shrine themselves.”
A 21-year-old BEd student offered a similar account.
“They stood on the shrine with their shoes and picked up some tools from the construction work in the college to destroy the shrine. We got so scared that we exited from the back gate of the building, which is almost never used,” the student said.
The ABVP members left at 3 pm, a couple of hours after police arrived on campus. They left behind a letter, accessed by ThePrint, for the college authorities, saying they were happy to see an idol of Saraswati in the college but were “pained by the disrespect shown”.
Further in the letter, written on the ABVP letterhead, they called for the tirthankar’s idol to be removed. If it is not removed, the the letter added, the ABVP would be “compelled to take out a violent campaign”.
Singh said he filed a complaint with police that very evening.
The FIR in the matter, filed Thursday evening, names four people. While three of them are ABVP members and signatories to the aforementioned letter, ThePrint couldn’t confirm if the fourth is associated with the organisation too.
Baghpat Superintendent of Police Abhishek Singh said the FIR invokes sections 147 (rioting), 427 (mischief causing damage), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police, he added, is looking into what exactly transpired on 22 December at the college, and also when the shrine was inaugurated in 2016.
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‘Jain community disheartened’
Baraut-based historian Amit Kumar Jain, said Shrutdevi was the “goddess of learning” and was at times referred to as the “Jain Saraswati”. The idol of tirthankar Rishabhdev, he added, is always placed on top of Shrutdevi’s statues.
Explaining the difference between the idols of Shrutdevi and Saraswati, he added, “Vedic Saraswati has a Veena in her hands, while Shrutdevi has a Jain scripture in her hands.”
Jain said there was no precedent of tension between religious communities in the area, where over half the population is Hindu. “There are 10 Jain temples here as well as two degree colleges, hospitals and schools,” he added.
He said people from the Jain community are primarily affiliated to the RSS and the BJP, and many also serve the organisation as office-bearers. “People from the community feel very insecure and unsafe that an organisation such as the ABVP disrespect and speak about destroying Jain temples,” he added.
A day after the campus drama, members of the Jain community came to the college to hold a protest. In a letter to the college management, they said they were very disheartened by what took place and called for greater safety for the temple.
Prodded by the RSS, the ABVP took to Twitter Thursday evening to apologise for the fracas and sought to dissociate itself from the episode.
“The ABVP apologises to the Digambar Jain Society for the agitation regarding the statue at the Digambar Jain College, Baghpat. It also clarifies that the incident happened without the knowledge of ABVP leaders. Even so, the ABVP does not even remotely support the incident.”
अभाविप दिगंबर जैन शिक्षण संस्थान, बागपत में प्रतिमा के सम्बंध में हुए आंदोलन के लिये दिगम्बर जैन समाज से माफ़ी मांगती है।साथ ही यह भी स्पष्ट करती है कि यह घटना अज्ञानता-वश एवं प्रमुख कार्यकर्ताओं की जानकारी बिना हुई, फिर भी अभाविप इस तरह की घटना का लेशमात्र समर्थन भी नही करती है।
— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) December 24, 2020
Tweeting in Hindi, the ABVP said it respected all scriptures and traditions, adding that it apologises to the entire society for the mistake of a few Baghpat workers.
This report has been updated to edit a typo
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Step by step the hooliganism of hardline Hindutva organizations is being revealed.
The targeting will not stop with just Muslims.
True Sudershanji. They won’t spare even Hindus who may not agree with ritualistic brahminical religion. Those beleiving great Saints of Hinduism but opposing rituals better be prepared in next few years.
When illiterates run the country, this is bound to happen.