'Is Bengal CM Scared of JU?': Suvendu Adhikari's Angry Speech Sparks Questions

'From JNU to Osmania, you (ABVP) have reformed everyone. Jadavpur baaki hai. Yeh bhi ho jayega,' Adhikari said.

Under an overcast sky, Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari arrived with an entourage of party leaders and ministers, and waved the tricolour in the rain as the crowds sang Vande Mataram.

(Photo: Rakhi Bose/The Quint)

"Why is the Bengal Chief Minister fighting with students like this? Is he scared?" a resident of Jadavpur, who had come to attend Suvendu Adhikari's Raksha Bandhan event held right outside Jadavpur University (JU) on Friday, 28 August, wondered, sipping tea at a stall in the adjacent 8B bus terminus. He was referring to the CM’s speech, replete with barely veiled threats and hypernationalist rhetoric.

“I know how to clear trash—I am that Chief Minister. I have cleaned communists out of Nandigram and Jangal Mahal. I will drive them out of Jadavpur, too,” Adhikari said. “They want azadi (freedom). Freedom to do what, drugs? Freedom for tukde tukde gang?”

Although the purported reason for the CM's event was to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with the collective singing of Vande Mataram, Adhikari's speech outside JU—days after the midnight attack allegedly by Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP) members following clashes with Left-backed student groups—appeared to intimidate and silence dissenters.

Under an overcast sky, the Bengal CM arrived with an entourage of party leaders and ministers who waved the tricolour as he addressed the crowd.

Unlike the loudspeaker announcements claiming 10,000 people were in attendance, the crowd on ground was thin. Some claimed it was about 2,000-3,000-strong.

Unlike the loudspeaker announcements claiming 10,000 people were in attendance, the crowd on ground was thin—some claimed it was about 2,000-3,000-strong—as people solemnly stood on a makeshift ramp.

(Photo: Rakhi Bose/The Quint)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and members of the ABVP scurried about, handing out flags and printed copies of the full Vande Mataram, including the erstwhile unsung verses.

Across the road, the JU campus stood locked up, guarded by police, and bamboo barricades. With the college being closed for Raksha Bandhan, the empty campus appeared almost at a standstill.

The absence of students was perhaps meant as a message for the CM. “Most students decided to skip going to campus today, what with the CM’s programme and all,” Nabab, a JU student, told The Quint. Students started trickling back to the campus area after 7 pm when the gates were opened.

However, many remained uneasy with the CM's "open threats".

From Maoists to Kashmir and Azadi 

Adhikari's event was announced soon after violence broke out in JU on the intervening night of 19-20 August when a general body meeting of students ended in a scuffle between Left student groups active on campus and members of the ABVP. Following the altercation, a mob armed with sticks and stones entered the campus, chased students, vandalised college property, and set fire to Left flags. The next day also saw altercation between Left groups and the ABVP as the latter tried to scale the gates of JU, hurling threats and abuses.

So far, four FIRs have been filed pertaining to the incident. One was filed on the night of the incident when the BJP’s Jadavpur MLA Sarbari Mukherjee, along with ABVP students, approached Jadavpur police station against injuries received by two ABVP members. Another FIR has been filed by college authorities. The ABVP, too, has filed a police complaint seeking a probe into the violence.

While the BJP had initially distanced itself from the incident, claiming the party did not have a students’ wing, Adhikari—speaking in Hindi—congratulated the "ABVP boys" for the work they were doing. 

"From JNU in Delhi to Osmania in Hyderabad, you have reformed everyone. Abhi Jadavpur baaki hai. Yeh bhi ho jayega. (Jadavpur is still left, this will also be reformed.) Nationalism has awakened now. This will not stop... it's a storm. How dare they?"

Suvendu Adhikari

In the last few days, videos of ABVP members painting over graffiti at the university have surfaced online. Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment on 'dimagi Naxals', ABVP members—often referred to as “Vanar Sena”—have claimed that JU is a hub of “dimagi Naxals”, and that such graffiti represent their "obscene and anti-national mentality". 

In his speech, the CM doubled down on the graffiti artwork, saying, "(The) Arts hostel has a grafitti proclaiming 'Red Salute to Kishanji'. Who is Kishan ji, the man who boycotted the Indian Constitution and elections? They write ‘Free Palestine’ on the walls. First write 'Free Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK)'. Do they think they can get away with this with a BJP government in place?"

In response, Arghyajit, a JU Arts student from the Revolutionary Students' Front, told The Quint,

“The campus belongs to the students, not to the BJP. The graffiti drawn on the walls of the university is by students, and they reflect the diverse political beliefs and ideologies of the various organisations and individuals of the campus.”

Suvendu Adhikari addressing an event at 8B, Jadavpur, outside the JU campus.

(Rakhi Bose/The Quint)

Adhikari also claimed that the “Maoists” of Jadavpur were running a “threat culture”, forcing students in the classrooms and hostels to join their protests, and accused them of being “anti-national rascals”. 

“When 45 CRPF personnel were killed in Awantipura by Pakistani terrorists, these 'beyadop' (rascals) were not seen protesting. Neither were they seen protesting when Hindus were killed in Pahalgam. But when Operation Sindoor was launched, they came out in protest, demanding peace, not war," he added.

"Now, it is time for final judgement. Either they live or we live. There is no in between.” 

Mocking slogans like “Kashmir maange azadi”, he further said that during Operation Sindoor, the Indian Air Force “obliterated the descendants of Masood Azhar”.

CM vs Students?

To Bahadur, who runs a teashop near the JU campus, the CM's words seemed out of place. A BJP worker himself, Bahadur has sold tea at that very spot for years. “JU students are always protesting about something or other, and yes, some students may perhaps need disciplining. But this sort of language against students, talking about Pakistan etc at this event, was not needed,” he told The Quint.

Incidentally, Adhikari’s predecessor Mamata Banerjee, too, frequently tagged JU students as “Maoists” and "anti-social elements" whenever the the latter sought accountability from the then Trinamool Congress (TMC) government. On Friday, Banerjee also addressed her supporters on Trinamool Chhatra Parishad’s foundation day in Kolkata, calling the BJP a "high voltage virus" that has spun a noose around the necks of institutions like JU and Kolkata's Presidency College.

Dissenting students, however, were not the only recipients of the CM’s brickbats. Adhikari also slammed the Anandabajar Patrika group, the parent company of ABP Ananda news channel and Anandabajar Patrika newspaper, for running headlines like “Saffron Hooliganism” in their coverage of the midnight clashes in JU. 

"This is an insult to Sanatan Dharma, and we will not tolerate it. I am not threatening journalists, but I am saying that particular newspaper will have to apologise. They will have to withdraw the "saffron tandav" term. We will not compromise. If this doesn't happen, thousands of sadhus wearing saffron will assemble here. They are only waiting for my go-ahead."

Suvendu Adhikari

Meanwhile, the probe committee set up to investigate the violence has faced setbacks with two members—Arunasis Goswami and the committee chairman, Prof Shubha Shankar Sarkar—quitting back to back. Sarkar stepped down after an RSS-affiliated teachers’ organisation objected to his alleged role in the West Bengal Central School Service Commission that faced several corruption allegations during the TMC rule. The committee was to hold it first meeting at JU’s Salt Lake campus last Thursday. Sources now claim that the talks have not moved forward yet.

On the main campus, not many have faith on the committee’s outcome.

Pointing out that “no student representatives are present in this committee,” Arghyajit said, “There is immense political pressure on the committee from the state government... there have already been several attempts to derail the investigation.”

Partha Pratim Ray, president of the Jadavpur University Teachers Association, called Adhikari's event itself a political stunt, adding that the CM should work toward smoothing the issue out for the benefit of the students’ safety instead of instigating groups like the ABVP.

“JU is a place of higher education with an excellent body of academics, students, and faculty. Students here adhere to different ideologies and politics, and it is their personal choice. We are with the students,” Ray told The Quint. 

He further added that the CM's allegations that the “communists of JU” were against the singing of Vande Mataram or hoisting the tricolour (a claim Adhikari repeated on Friday) were biased.

“There is no such sentiment on campus. In all our events, we honour the national anthem and the national song. The national flag finds its place before anything else in all programmes, including our rallies.”