Cops break open an Allahabad University gate, Monday. (PTI Photo)Amid the ongoing protests against fee hike, a group of students on Monday locked all the gates of the Allahabad University campus, forcing many students to return without attending classes.
Different student groups have been protesting against the fee hike — which many allege is a steep 400 per cent jump —at Allahabad University for the past three weeks.
According to sources, a group of students affiliated with the affiliated to Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the students’ wing of the RSS — locked all the five gates of the university on Monday morning as students and teachers started arriving around 8 am. Another group of women students, under the banner of Chatra Sanyukta Sangharsh Morcha, also joined the sit-in protest near the gates. After the university officials failed to convince the protesting students to open the gates, police were called in. As students refused to open the gates, police broke open the locks of the gates. Sources said all the gates, barring the one near the students’ union office, were opened by 11 am, and classes resumed.
ADM (Prayagraj City) Madan Kumar said: “Students belonging to ABVP, who were undertaking peaceful protests, decided to lock the gates of the campus. We tried to explain to them that this might affect the students who were trying to enter the campus for their studies. But they did not open the gates. So, we had to break them open.”
ABVP leader Kartikey Tripathi said they decided to lock the gates as the university had not been listening to their demand. “We had no other option but to resort to such ways of protest as the university administration is not listening. We have been protesting peacefully and will continue to do so but in between, we will resort to such creative ways to attract their attention. They are not even considering dialogue as if our issue hardly matters to them,” Tripathi said.
“We did this as we had come to know that Vice-Chancellor (Sangita Srivastava) was expected to visit the campus for launching the Deen Dayal Upadhaya research chair. We thought that we might be able to draw her attention with this kind of protest,” Tripathi added.
In a statement, Allahabad University Public Relations Officer Jaya Kapoor said, “The concerted attempts to disrupt the normal functioning of the campus and create law and order situations are very unfortunate. The locks were opened by the district administration, normalcy was thus maintained. The university administration is being provided help by the district administration in handling the situation.”