S M Fasiullah for BeyondHeadlines
Hyderabad’s Osmania University (OU) boils again, but not for Telangana issue this time rather due to communal clashes between two student groups.
A group of ABVP students led by Rajendra Prasad went to Manjeera Hostel in OU and attacked Naveen on 26 April. After a call from hostel students, Police came to the campus and took Naveen to police station.
A few groups of students started protesting at the station hailing Telangana Rashtra Samiti Vidyarthi Vibhag (TRSVV). A group of students, allegedly TRSV members, entered OU’s B Hostel and destroyed furniture which reportedly associated to ABVP students.
On the same day, about 30 ABVP student leaders beaten up Perka Shyam, a Dalit student and PhD scholar affiliated to TRSVV. He was taking tea near the campus when the mob of students attacked him.
Shyam told STOI that he convinced his friends who were at the police station that the issue can be resolved later and asked them to disperse.
“After they dispersed, I went to have tea at a roadside shop near B Hostel. It was around 2 am, a group of 30 ABVP members came there and attacked me with sticks,” recalled Shyam.
When an idol in the temple in the campus premises was broken, students from both the groups were arrested and remanded by OU police. Meanwhile armed police continued to patrol the OU campus to keep the situation under control.
English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) students also came out to protest in front of the OU police station demanding the release of the Dalit students who were arrested by police on Saturday.
In the past, clashes between ABVP and Dalit students were seen. The scuffles were going on in the campus since several years on ideological grounds.
