GURUGRAM: Haryana
Congress chief Ashok
Tanwar and hundreds of his supporters were arrested for trying to incite students after being stopped from entering into Indira Gandhi University (
IGU) in Rewari on Thursday. They were bundled in three buses to Sadar police station and later let off by police with a warning.
Tanwar said he went to the university to address students, two days after the state government decided to hold students’ union elections in Haryana colleges and universities in September-October after nearly 20 years.
“But the university authorities had issued a notice ahead of my visit disallowing political activities on the campus. The notice was issued to restrict my visit. I went to interact with students, but the university authorities tried to suppress my voice by not letting us enter the campus,” he said. Tanwar blamed the
BJP government for his arrest.
However, police said they took the state Congress chief and his supporters into custody to prevent any clashes as ABVP members in the university had threatened to protest against his visit and even flashed black flags. “We had asked Tanwar to enter the university campus with just 11 of his supporters. But he refused to go with a small group and started arguing with us. He soon started addressing students from the university gate and that was inciting the mob. We had to take action,” said DSP Satya Pal.
“The government has shown its true colours yet again. It has allowed university elections but not allowing us to meet students. Why not go ahead and shamelessly nominate their representatives rather than taking undemocratic steps to curb our voice,” said Youth Congress functionary Chiranjiv Rao.
But DSP Gajender Singh reiterated, “It was a preventive action only as they were formally arrested. No FIR has been registered in this regard and they were let off after some time.”
