Kasaragod, Aug 14: The Kerala governor’s directive to universities in the state to observe Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14 led the RSS-affiliated student wing ABVP to mark the occasion at a college here on Thursday, triggering clashes with the CPI(M)-backed SFI.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) observed the day by putting up posters about it at a government college, following which activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) turned up in bigger numbers to oppose it.
Both groups clashed with each other, and the posters put up by the ABVP were torn down, according to visuals shown on TV channels.
The police intervened to stop the clashes between the two groups.
The SFI also burned an effigy of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar outside the college campus.
Later, the ABVP students again put up the posters on the college notice board, leading to activists of the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) turning up to oppose the move.
The activists of MSF, the student outfit of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), shouted slogans against the occasion and the governor, as the police acted as a barrier between them and the ABVP members near the notice board.
On Thursday, ABVP activists observed the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day at the Kerala Central University, the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD) college at Kumbala here, the Kasaragod Government College and the Chendayad MG College in Kannur, the student outfit said in a statement.
Arlekar had recently issued a circular for the observance of Partition Horrors Remembrance Day in state universities on August 14 on the instructions from the Union Home Ministry, according to the Raj Bhavan.
The Governor, as Chancellor of universities in the state, had issued the directive to the vice chancellors to organise seminars to commemorate the day and to forward the action plans regarding this.
Opposing the directive, the Left government had made it clear that such programmes need not be held in the universities.
The Congress-led UDF opposition had said it would not allow any such programme to be implemented in the state.
Both the Left and the UDF had alleged that the governor’s directive was an attempt to divide the people and the nation. (AGENCIES)
