ABVP’s top man Sunil Ambekar says BHU incident is “not such a big thing”, it is being “over-politicised” and “stretched out unnecessarily”.
New Delhi: University authorities should “not talk” so much but “act instead”, and act with “greater sensitivity” to student concerns on campus. That’s the advice given by Sunil Ambekar, national organising secretary of the RSS-affiliated student organisation Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), amid the unrest at the Banaras Hindu University.
Ambekar desisted from directly attacking vice-chancellor Prof. G.C. Tripathi, who is also said to have strong RSS links. But he told ThePrint that it was felt that the initial response of the BHU administration to the campus unrest over a girl student’s alleged molestation was “lacking” in many respects, and the police lathi charge on campus was “avoidable”. A more “sensible handling of such issues” would have helped, the man who helms the Right-wing organisation’s affairs said.
The BHU V-C has drawn considerable flak for several of his statements, which many construe as an attempt to dilute the concerns raised by students on the issue of women students’ safety.
Ambekar, however, also underlined that the BHU incident was “not such a big thing”, and it was being “over-politicised” and “stretched out unnecessarily” by those with political interests in mind.
ABVP’s position on the agitation
The BHU campus has been on the boil since last week, following the molestation of a woman student on campus while she was returning to her hostel.
While the student organisations affiliated with the Left parties and the Congress were quick to rush into the BHU controversy, holding protests right away, the ABVP chose to step in at a later stage, when the campus unrest came to a boil. ABVP was among the student organisations which held a protest this week at Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi on the BHU issue, and even submitted demands to the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Having marked its presence in the debate, the ABVP has now promptly suspended its agitation, after the BHU proctor resigned and a fact-finding committee was set up.
Ambekar insisted that the ABVP decision to agitate on the issue was only because of student concerns, and had no political colour.
“Safety of girl students on campus is a very important issue. Earlier, people let such things pass, there was this ‘chalta hai’ attitude. Now, the youth feels strongly about it, has certain aspirations, and wants to overcome these things. This is not just in BHU, but in every campus and place in the country,” he said.
“There is a need to act on this, and see that such an aspiration is addressed. This is not ideology or politics-specific at all. We, like everyone else, want a safe campus. That’s why I feel politicising this will not help solve the problem.”