Student groups clashed at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the Indian capital early on Monday after a protest demanding the resignation of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit turned violent, news agency PTI reported.
The unrest involved students linked to Left organisations and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The ABVP is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to PTI, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union had organised a march to the campus’ East Gate, calling on Pandit to step down over comments she allegedly made in a Feb. 16 interview with The Sunday Guardian. In that interview, she was quoted as saying that Dalits could not advance “by being permanently a victim or playing the victim card”.
Tensions escalated around 1:30 a.m. when a confrontation broke out between the two groups, PTI said.
Protesters accused the university administration of failing to engage with the demonstrators and of allowing ABVP members to approach the marchers, the agency reported.
The All India Students Association, which is linked to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), alleged that ABVP members hurled stones at students gathered at the protest site, leaving several injured, PTI reported.
The ABVP rejected the allegation and said one of its members, biotechnology student Prateek Bharadwaj, was seriously hurt in an attack by Left-affiliated students. It alleged that he was sprayed with fire extinguisher powder and assaulted, and called on the Delhi Police to take swift action against those responsible.
Videos shared on social media showed scenes of students running and being beaten inside the campus. Reuters was not able to independently verify the footage.
In her interview, Pandit also criticised opposition to new equity rules introduced by the University Grants Commission, describing some of the criticism as influenced by “wokeism”.
She later said her remarks had been misconstrued and denied that they were casteist. “I am a Bahujan myself, I come from an OBC background,” PTI quoted her as saying.
The equity regulations, notified on Jan. 13, prompted demonstrations in several cities, with some upper-caste students arguing the framework could be misused and lacked safeguards against false complaints.
On Jan. 29, the Supreme Court of India suspended the implementation of the rules, saying they appeared “prima facie vague and capable of misuse”, and directed the federal government to revise them. The regulations will remain on hold until further orders, the court said.