JNU row: Budget session of Parliament to witness NSUI vs ABVP clash in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The student organisations on either side of the political divide are all set for a physical clash in the Capital during the budget session of Parliament.

Student bodies closer to the ruling establishment and those affiliated to the Opposition parties are planning a march to Parliament on the same day at the beginning of the session.

RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which boasts proximity to the ruling BJP, on Wednesday decided to raise its pitch on the issue of nationalism in the wake of controversy over the alleged “seditious activities” in JNU, by staging a siege of Parliament on the second day of the budget session.

The ABVP march will clash with already-announced protest in the Capital on the same day (February 24) by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, being spearheaded by Congress-affiliated NSUI, over the issue of the suicide of Rohith Vemula in the University of Hyderabad. The NSUI has lent its support to two-day (February 23-24) ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest against the saffron establishment.

“Our protest march to Parliament to seek justice for Vemula was planned much in advance… ABVP is responsible for the death of Vemula and have not sought justice for him. I see their proposed march as a tactic to divert attention from the issue of justice for Vemula,” NSUI president Roji M John told ET.

ABVP joint organising secretary Srinivaj said: “Those who are trying to play Dalit politics in the name of Vemula are acting against Ambedkar’s Constitution by lending support to seditious and antinational activities.”