Lucknow: Police action against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists has triggered a political storm in Uttar Pradesh, highlighting fraught relations between the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Yogi Adityanath-led government.
UP ministers condemned the police action and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) also came out in support of the RSS-affiliated students’ organisation.
Though ideologically aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ABVP leaders have often accused the state government of ignoring student concerns and shielding what it calls the “education mafia” in private universities.
The latest flashpoint came at Barabanki’s Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University (SRMU) on Tuesday, when over a dozen ABVP workers were allegedly beaten up on the Lucknow-Barabanki border while protesting against SRMU. They alleged that its law courses had not been approved by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, where he condemned the police action. He described the ABVP as a “disciplined and responsible” student organisation and warned that the guilty would not be spared.
Maurya said it was the duty of student organisations to oppose institutions running unapproved courses. Higher Education Minister Yogendra Upadhyay also criticised the state police action.
Late Wednesday night, ABVP workers staged a protest outside the residence of cabinet minister O.P. Rajbhar, who had called them “gundas”.
The next morning, ABVP leaders held a press conference and issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, demanding action against the SRMU university management, whom they accused of being part of the “education mafia”.
Although Yogi Adityanath was never associated with the RSS, he joined the ABVP as a student at Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University. But he was not an active member. After moving to Gorakhpur, Yogi had founded the Hindu Yuva Vahini.
Sharing a video of the protest, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP government of “misleading students” and called for Rs 1 lakh compensation for each injured student. “The BJP must ensure proper medical treatment and financial support for those who were assaulted,” he said.
Akhilesh remarked that the BJP does not stand by anyone, and its “use-and-throw” approach had been “exposed”. Following the incident, SP student wing leaders staged a protest in support of the ABVP students over the lathi-charge.
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Tension in BJP camp
Senior BJP leaders expressed concern over the ongoing friction between the ABVP and the state government, saying the student wing plays a crucial role in election campaigns.
“We do not want further confrontation between the organisation and the government. A lot has already happened over the past two years,” said a senior party official. “However, government functionaries should also show greater sensitivity towards ABVP and BJP workers. The lathi-charge was brutal, and the opposition is mocking us, saying, ‘Apni hi sarkar mein peet diya gaya’ (beaten up in their own government).”
According to S.K. Dwivedi, a UP-based political analyst and retired professor from the University of Lucknow, it would be incorrect to label the chief minister as anti-ABVP, given his past association with the student wing. However, as CM, he is a “no-nonsense” leader who does not tolerate anyone taking the law into their own hands.
Dwivedi said the chief minister prefers one-on-one dialogue and would likely want ABVP students to submit a memorandum directly rather than protest.
In the past, similar actions have been taken even against local BJP leaders within his government. While he prioritises maintaining law and order, Dwivedi believes a middle-ground solution is necessary to prevent the issue from turning into a “Sangathan versus Sarkar” narrative from the BJP’s perspective.
ABVP national secretary Ankit Shukla alleged that ABVP students were “badly beaten up” during a protest at Ram Swaroop University.
“The chief minister has promised to wipe out the mafia. We demand that the education mafia involved in corruption should also be eliminated. For the last three years, Ramswaroop University has been misleading students in the name of admission to law courses, and that is why we opposed it,” he told ThePrint.
Shukla further warned that if action is not taken against those responsible within 48 hours, the ABVP would launch protests across Uttar Pradesh.
According to other ABVP functionaries, ‘education mafias’ not only obtain permission to run courses but also occupy illegal land. ABVP leaders further claimed that SRMU University has encroached on land near its campus and demanded that the government take bulldozer action against it.
Past incidents
This was not the first instance of the ABVP’s discontent under the current government. In July, the ABVP accused a private inter college in Gorakhpur’s Machhali Gaon area of arbitrarily increasing fees. The organisation alleged that when its workers went to protest, they were assaulted by college staff.
Following a complaint by ABVP functionary Ajay Nayak, police registered a case against five identified individuals, including the principal, and 10 unidentified persons. However, according to ABVP functionaries, no serious action has been taken in this case.
Similarly, in July 2023, tensions flared between the ABVP and the Gorakhpur University management, and the situation got out of control. ABVP members had been protesting at the university gate on multiple issues, including a fee hike. When top university officials, including the vice-chancellor, refused to meet the demonstrators, the situation escalated by the afternoon.
The unrest turned violent in the administrative block, with ABVP members allegedly assaulting the vice-chancellor, the registrar and intervening police personnel. A lathi-charge was also carried out to disperse the students. Following a complaint by university proctor Satyapal Singh, Gorakhpur Police registered an FIR against eight ABVP students of the university.
Before that, in January 2020, Agra police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse protesters from two student organisations, including the ABVP, at Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University. The ABVP members were reportedly baton-charged while returning after submitting a memorandum to the City Magistrate regarding the JNU violence.
Though the government has tried to downplay the issue and the chief minister’s office has remained completely silent on the matter, ABVP’s warnings of statewide protests underscore the tensions in their relationship.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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