In Left's battle for survival, JU students hold massive protest against Babul Supriyo incident

The protest, which began at JU's Gate No. 4 at around 4:30 pm, was over Supriyo's visit to the campus which led to a major scuffle between the BJP and the Left students on last Thursday.

Though Supriyo was seen assaulted by some students, the blame game continued as the protesters held the Union Minister responsible for the entire unsavoury incident.

As the protest rally on a hot Monday evening stepped outside the university through Gate No. 2 and proceeded towards busy Sulekha More, slogans demanding elimination of the BJP from West Bengal were heard.

One protester even said, "What BJP does is not our culture. What we are doing today is our culture," referring to the songs in the lips of a huge of crowd of young students.

At a time the Communism is waning across the nation, the protest rally, organised by all Left-affiliated students' union, can also be interpreted as a fight for the Left's survival particularly looking at the placards which reads, "It is the fight for the existence" and "ABVP nahi chalega (there will be no ABVP)".

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is now emerging as a player in the student politics turf war in West Bengal with the rise of the saffron forces, is the student wing affiliated to the BJP and its ideological patron RSS.

What was the incident?

Union Minister Babul Supriyo faced massive protest by the students of Jadavpur University on Thursday after being heckled  for entering the campus supposedly with an armed force to attend a programme by the ABVP.

Not only was he heckled but he was also gheraoed by members of two Left-leaning organizations - Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU) and Students Federation of India - (SFI).

Following the news of harassment of Supriyo, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar rushed to the campus to 'save' the BJP MP.

Although he managed to rescue the BJP leader, he had to sit inside his car with Supriyo for a long time. His convoy finally managed to leave the campus.

As he entered the campus, Supriyo was shown black flags and allegedly heckled by a section of students at JU.

"I did not come here to do politics. But I am saddened by the behaviour of some of the students of the university, the way they have heckled me. They pulled me by my hair and pushed me," Supriyo told reporters visiting the campus.

In retaliation to the demonstration by SFI, ABVP students went on a rampage and damaged several university properties, including a union’s office.

A large contingent of police force rushed to the spot even as the agitators refused to budge on their decision.

Fashion designer-turned-politician Agnimitra Paul on Friday lodged an complaint where she alleged physical abuse and molestation by the students.

In her complaint, she said, "I was subjected to physical abuse, molestation, outraging my modesty. My clothes were torn off and some of the assaulting crowd were even instigating others for further assault on me."

Paul, who is associated with the BJP now, said she was unable to register the FIR immediately as she was feeling unwell.

Mentioning that the agitators were unknown to her but could be identified from "through innumerable media footage and photos," she also alleged that the Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das came late at the spot, and could not handle the situation.