Kerala University turns battleground: SFI workers storm campus, protest against ‘saffronisation'; accuse VCs of bias, Sangh links
In Kannur, SFI protestors raised slogans against Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who also serves as the Chancellor of state universities, and broke through police barricades outside Kannur University.
Police deployed water cannons in response, but the protestors reached the Vice-Chancellor's office and held a sit-in protest inside.
Similar tensions were reported at Calicut University in Thenjippalam, Malappuram district, where a brief scuffle broke out between the police and students during the march.
At Kerala University headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, SFI workers broke open the gates and stormed into the office complex. Police were unable to prevent the breach, and protestors entered the university building, shouting slogans against the Governor and Vice-Chancellor Mohanan Kunnummal.
The SFI demanded the resignation of the Vice-Chancellors of both Calicut and Kerala universities, accusing them of aligning too closely with the ideology of the Sangh Parivar.
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Police forces remained on high alert at all affected locations to prevent further escalation.
Universities in Kerala have recently become flashpoints in a growing power tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the Left-led state government.
Tensions intensified after several Vice-Chancellors, appointed on a temporary basis by the Chancellor, undertook actions that student and teacher unions affiliated with the Left claim support the Sangh Parivar's ideology.
Kerala University has witnessed heightened unrest since earlier this month, following the suspension of the Registrar by vice-chancellor Kunnummal. The Registrar had issued a notice cancelling a private event attended by Governor Arlekar at the Senate Hall, where a portrait of Bharat Mata holding a saffron flag was displayed.
(With agency inputs)
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