Ujjain: Colleges in the country have become hotspots for harnessing political ambitions and an apt example of this was seen at the Government Madhav Arts and Commerce College once again. Though the schedule for the students union polls has yet been announced, different student bodies backed-up by political parties have started formulating their strategies. On Wednesday, supporters of both, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) crossed paths at the college resulting in a prolonged unruly situation and were finally thrown out of the college premises with the help of the police.
The scuffle started inside the college premises at about 1pm, when ABVP workers came out of principal Dr BS Makkad’s chamber after handing over a memorandum. The organisation’s city secretary, Abhishek Rathore informed that the memorandum was submitted for redressal of basic problems. He said a demand was also made to remove hoardings from the college wall, which was installed by the NSUI, as it infringed the provisions of Defacement of Property Act. ABVP leaders including Rohit Shukla, Pankaj Jaat and Shalini Verma were present.
Very soon, the NSUI activists also entered the scene and created havoc over the presence of outsiders. State NSUI general secretary Pritesh Sharma informed that in the name of handing over a memorandum, several outside ABVP leaders entered the college premises and indulged in forceful recovery of Rs 5 each from the students in the name of a membership drive. Moreover, the ABVP workers also painted college walls and class rooms and urged students to become ABVP members, he added. NSUI leaders Amber Mathur, Mayur Noghane, Vikas Patel, Kush Verma and Talka Khan were present.
However, despite the situation on the campus, the principal instead of coming out and pacifying agitating groups of ABVP and NSUI, chose to remain inside his chamber. Fearing a law and order situation due to the presence of hundreds of ABVP and NSUI supporters, the Dewasgate police immediately rushed to the spot. Soon, forces from Central Kotwali, Mahakal and Madhav Nagar police stations was also deployed at the college premises under the leadership of CSP Satish Samadhia. There were reports of abuse between police officers and ABVP and NSUI leaders as well as a mild cane charge on the NSUI activists.
NSUI ‘collects money for ABVP’
Meanwhile, the NSUI launched a drive to collect donations from the local coaching class directors. A number of NSUI activists visited coaching institutes on Wednesday evening asking for donations. NSUI leader Pritesh Sharma informed that they had to initiate such a move to respond to the ABVP whose workers who were caught on CCTV extorting money from a coaching class director on Tuesday. “The drive will go on for five days and we will also contribute some money from our pockets. The amount thus collected will be handed over in a DD form to the Member of Parliament Chintamani Malviya’s son Dushyant who tried to extort money from a coaching class director so that the ABVP will not repeat such unwanted things in future,” Sharma added.
