BJP calls Jadavpur University a ‘hub of anti-nationals’, blames Trinamool for the impasse

BJP rally at Jadavpur University calls it a hub of anti-nationals amid ongoing tensions, sparking protests and legal actions.

Amid tensions prevailing at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University (JU), the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday (March 9, 2025) took out a rally in the Jadavpur area and called the university a “hub of anti-nationals” and blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the ongoing impasse at the State-run university.

With the scuffle between a section of students and State Education Minister Bratya Basu on March 1 bringing the Left parties and the Trinamool face-to-face, the BJP and its allies have been trying to precipitate the situation with supporters of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad trying to storm the university, and on Sunday the party hitting the streets.

The BJP rally was led by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and president of BJP Yuva Morcha Indranil Khan. “Mamata Banerjee has created this Frankenstein (Jadavpur University). All kinds of anti-national activities including drugs are prevalent at the university. In case of Jadavpur both the Trinamool and the CPI(M) are on the same page and responsible for the situation,” Mr. Adhikari said.

The rally by the BJP comes despite a direction of the Calcutta High Court that rallies with more than 750 persons are prohibited in the vicinity of the university till March 13. This is not the first time that the West Bengal BJP leadership had targeted the Jadavpur University students calling them “anti-nationals” and terming the university a hub of “urban Naxals”. Despite several attempts, neither the Trinamool Congress nor the BJP has been able to extend its influence at the JU, where the Left-dominated students unions have called the shots.

Rallies and processions were organised by the members of civil society in Kolkata who raised protests against the incident at Jadavpur University and the R.G. Kar rape and murder. The rally of the civil society was endorsed and supported by Left Front chairperson Biman Bose.

Even as the impasse continues at Jadavpur University, the acting Vice-Chancellor Bhaskar Ghosh was discharged from hospital. Prof. Ghosh has been missing from the university since the controversy erupted. The students of Jadavpur University had given the authorities a deadline till 1 p.m. on Monday (March 10) to call a meeting of the university’s Executive Council (EC). According to reports from the university authorities, a meeting will be held at the university on Monday and two representatives of the students have also been invited to attend the meeting.

The Kolkata Police had registered nine FIRs, including one at the instructions of the Calcutta High Court against Minister Mr. Bratya Basu, his driver and professor Om Prakash Mishra on the statement made by Indranuj Roy, who came under the wheels of the Minister’s car. The student was admitted to a hospital with serious injuries on the face and had to be administered 14 stitches near his eye. In the other FIRs, charges have been framed against the students.