Ramjas college clash: ABVP pelted stones, Delhi police watched, says Shehla Rashid

ABVP students protested against the invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid for a two-day event scheduled on February 21 and 22. ABVP students allegedly pelted stones at the conference centre where the seminar was held.  The organisers had to cancel the invites as well as day two of the seminar. Last year, Umar Khalid and two others were arrested on sedition charges, and Shehla Rashid was involved in the movement against the arrests.

Delhi University’s Ramjas College witnessed a bitter clash between Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the nationalist student organisation affiliated to RSS, and All India Students Association (AISA), the student wing of the left-wing Communist Party of India, a day after cancelling JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid’s seminar. 

Violence broke out, and police in large numbers had to intervene when earlier the day, ABVP members staged a protest in Ramjas College against inviting the two students from JNU in a two-day long seminar titled ‘Cultures of Protest’, and the altercation took place between the members of opposing student organisation. ABVP members also blocked the entrance of the college to stop students from leaving or entering the campus.

The seminar hosted by Wordcraft, Ramjas College’s Literary Society, invited Umar Khalid who was to speak to students on February 21 and Shehla Rashid, who was scheduled to speak on February 22. 

Last year, Khalid along with two other students was arrested on sedition charges, and Rashid is a former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) vice-president played an active part in the movement protesting the arrests. 

However, on February 21, ABVP members gathered outside the college and raised slogans to cancel the invites to both these students. Organisers, as well as college teachers, alleged that the protesters pelted stones and disconnected the electricity supply at the venue of the seminar, the conference centre. 

In view of the protest, the organised cancelled the invite to Khalid and also cancelled the day two of the seminar. On the first day of the event, the police allegedly warned the organisers that police wouldn't be able to provide protection during the seminar. 

To control the violence on February 22, police had to lathi charge though no arrests have been made yet. The clashes also left a professor and media persons covering the news injured. 

Meanwhile, Shehla Rashid through a number of tweets called the ABVP members goons and accused Delhi police of inaction against the member of the nationalist party.