Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 25 (PTI) Tension prevailed at the Kerala University Senate campus here for hours on Wednesday with SFI activists clashing with police and staging a huge protest over the display of a portrait of Bharat Mata as part of a private function attended by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.
Activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students’ wing of the ruling CPI(M), engaged in a war of words with the organisers of the event on Emergency, Padmanabha Seva Samithi, and police, demanding to remove the portrait from the senate hall.
The protesters even engaged in a scuffle with the police when they tried to forcibly enter the hall before the arrival of the Governor.
Police somehow managed to clear the path and ensured a smooth entry of the Governor to the programme venue through the main entrance of the campus, forcibly removing the protesters.
SFI leaders and university syndicate members, however, made it clear that they would not allow the programme to be held if the portrait was not removed from there, triggering tense moments on the campus.
Besides the SFI activists, the workers of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the Youth wing of the CPI(M) and the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the students’ outfit of the Congress party, also took part in the protest in the Senate campus.
As the tension escalated, the University registrar reportedly intervened into the matter and denied permission to the organisers to go ahead with the programme.
Though they reportedly informed the Raj Bhavan about the development, the Governor decided to attend the event ignoring the protests.
It was a tough time for the police personnel to control the protesters who squatted on the road and raised slogans against the display of the Bharat Mata portrait. Some of them even tore away the display board of the programme placed in front of the gate.
The tension began in the evening after the SFI demanded to remove the Bharat Mata portrait from the Senate hall, and the organisers objected to it, saying that they booked the hall after meeting all necessary procedures.
Addressing the audience later, Arlekar said he could have arrived on schedule and caused a disturbance, but chose not to.
He said he did not have enmity towards anyone as he was not a political leader and did not want to target anybody.
Apparently referring to the SFI protests outside, the Governor, however, made it clear that this intolerance is not ethos of this soil and this culture.
“In Kerala, I publically said it is not my nature to have confrontation every time. But, not having confrontation does not mean that I will be compromising. These cannot be compromised….Doing such things are not pardonable,” he said.
He also lighted the lamp before the Bharat Mata portrait displayed on the stage.
“I don’t want to target anybody. But these types of emergency cannot be tolerated. We are all Indians and we are all brothers and sisters. You have different opinion…I have different opinion.. Let’s come and discuss and do something,” Arlekar said.
He also said he may have his own perspective and ideology and others may have their own.
While speaking during the programme “Fifty Years of the Emergency”, organised by the right-wing organisation, the Governor also recalled the memories during the Emergency period.
After his speech, police cleared a path for the Governor to exit the campus, bypassing the main gate where SFI protesters were staging a sit-in under a black banner.
The banner read: “We want to say something once more, Mr Governor. Raj Bhavan is not the ancestral property of the RSS”.
After the Governor left for Raj Bhavan through another gate, the protesters took out a march through the city holding the banner.
The southern state has been witnessing a tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led LDF government over the display of the Bharat Mata portrait during official events at the Raj Bhavan here.
The Bharat Mata portrait row involving Governor Arlekar recently triggered a series of street protests and a war of words on June 21, with the ruling CPI(M)’s official mouthpiece publishing a hard-hitting editorial against the Raj Bhavan.
Meanwhile, the state cabinet on Wednesday was learnt to have discussed the matter of displaying the Bharat Mata portrait at functions being held in Raj Bhavan.
It also learnt to have decided to convey to the Governor about the government’s dissent in using anything other than national symbols during official functions, sources said. PTI LGK KH
