Unrest at BBAU: Dalit Student Protests Rock Campus Over Alleged Discrimination and Manhandling

Lucknow- Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar University (BBAU) has once again found itself embroiled in controversy as students protest against the alleged mistreatment of their fellow classmates. The recent incident, which occurred at the Vice-Chancellor's residence, saw members of the Ambedkar University Dalit Students Union (AUDSU) subjected to what they claim was unwarranted aggression by campus security personnel.

Accusations have been leveled against the university administration, with claims of discrimination and affiliations with political entities such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Students protested against the manhandling of their fellow students at the Vice-Chancellor's residence of the University on Monday. They were protesting against the manhandling of students belonging to AUDSU (Ambedkar University Dalit Students Union) by the security guards on the campus at the behest of the Proctor Sanjay Kumar.

They alleged that the security guards beat the students on the orders of security officer B.S. Saini. The Mooknayak spoke to the protesting students. Akhil Singh Azad from the History department said, “On the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti, we were taking out a shobha yatra but were stopped by the security guards. When the proctor Sanjay Kumar arrived at the scene, the guards began to beat the students, and even the female students were not spared.”

The Mooknayak spoke to Anjali, the female student who was allegedly manhandled. Anjali, a student of Life Sciences, said, “We were taking out a Shobha Yatra and were stopped at the gate. In the scuffle, my slippers came off, and one of the guards stomped on my legs with his shoes. I managed to extricate myself somehow. The Proctor further exacerbated the issue when he arrived and said ‘maaro s**lon ko’, this is the same proctor who called us Deshdrohi (traitors) when the students burnt the Manusmriti last year.

Drawing an analogy to the feudal practices in villages, Abhishek Kumar, a student of sociology, said that like in villages where the wedding procession is not allowed to pass the homes of the upper castes, similarly here, the Ravidas Jayanti procession was not allowed to go near the Vice-Chancellor's residence.

The students alleged that although a Dalit himself, Proctor Sanjay Kumar is working at the behest of RSS. The students demonstrated outside the residence of Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Singh. The students told The Mooknayak that the Vice-Chancellor has proposed a committee to look into the incident, but the students have demanded that the accused proctor Sanjay Kumar be divested of his duty pending the enquiry as he could influence the findings of the committee.

Confrontation between Dalit Students group and ABVP

The latest incident is another case where the Dalit student groups have alleged discrimination against them and have accused the authorities in the administration of being stooges of RSS. In a similar incident which happened last year, the Dalit groups students alleged that the proctor Sanjay Kumar had called the students who burnt the Manusmriti as traitors. Also, reportedly when the students charged Kumar of being an RSS agent, he accepted the charge blatantly.

This year, a student enrolled in B.Tech course alleged that he was intimidated by members of ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) when he objected to renaming of a WhatsApp group to “Jai Shree Ram”. The issue escalated after the complaints of the students were not heard. Subsequently, the students raised the issue before the Vice-Chancellor on the foundation day by blocking the passage of his car. Acting on a complaint of the Dalit students, the erring students were suspended for 15 days.

Many students believe that these controversies are a fallout of the muscle-flexing exercise of ABVP and the Dalit groups. Some students view it differently, a student said, “The authorities here are inclined to RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh) and therefore ABVP, their students’ wing, manage to get a free pass for everything; they organize religious rituals on the campus, which is against the norms of a University. On Ram Navmi, they took out a procession with loud DJ, and the administration of the university distanced itself from it."

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