JU students take out a rally against the vandalism on campus, in Kolkata on Friday. (Express photo/Partha Paul)The heckling and gherao of Union minister Babul Supriyo by a section of students at Jadavpur University on Thursday triggered a fresh round of political sparring on Friday. Describing a section of JU students as “nothing less than terrorists”, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said there should be a Balakot-like surgical strike to “destroy anti-national hubs in JU campus”. The ruling TMC, meanwhile, directed its criticism at the Governor for rushing to the university, and expressed solidarity with the V-C and students of JU.
Sharing pictures of the incident at JU on Twitter, Supriyo, the Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said on Friday that those who were involved in his assault would be found out. “These cowards will not be allowed to malign & tarnish the image of #JadavpurUniversity. U shall be found out by us soon but dont worry, you shall not be treated in the manner you treated me,” he tweeted. “We shall rehabilitate you mentally so that you & your Hooligan Friends (all footages available with the media) behave like you are supposed to behave as students till then.”
Tweeting a picture of a student pulling him by his hair, Supriyo added, “This is the guy who led the assault in #JadavpurUniversity. We will find him out and then see what @MamataOfficial does to him in terms of charging him for assault without ANY PROVOCATION whatsoever from our/my side.”
On Thursday, Supriyo, a BJP MP, was heckled and manhandled by some students at JU. The students gheraoed Supriyo for over five hours, stopping him from leaving the campus. When Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar rushed to JU in the evening, his vehicle was also blocked for about an hour, before a huge police contingent reached the campus and escorted them out.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Ghosh said he would write to Union Home Minister Amit Shah describing the incident. “The JU campus has become a hub of anti-national and communist activities. Now we are calling them anti-socials as well. They are nothing less than terrorists. This is not the first time such an incident has happened there. Just like our security forces conducted surgical strike to destroy terror camps in Pakistan, our cadres would carry out the same type of surgical strike to destroy anti-national hubs in JU campus,” he said.
Vowing action against students for assaulting Supriyo, Ghosh said, “No one has given anyone the right to lay hands on a minister. We know how to break their hands and soon we will do it.”
Backing Governor Dhankhar’s move to visit the campus, Ghosh said, “The state government was sitting idle and waiting for Supriyo to get killed. It is unprecedented and only happens in Bengal. There is no law and order here.”
He also demanded immediate resignation of JU Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das for allegedly failing to control the situation.
The TMC, on it part, issued a statement saying, “We must punish the culprits who assaulted the students including the girl students of Jadavpur University and ransacked the campus. We express our total solidarity with the Vice Chancellor, Professors and students of Jadavpur University. We wish speedy recovery of V-C and Pro V-C. One thing must be made very clear: universities are autonomous institutions and as per time-honoured tradition, police cannot enter university campus without permission of VC.”
