Kolkata, 4 April

Jadavpur University authorities have turned down the request of RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to organise Ram Navami celebrations on the campus.

They said the decision was taken considering "several factors", including a previous clash between ABVP and Left-leaning students during the celebration of Ayodhya Ram temple inauguration in January 2023 and the fact that Ram Navami has never been celebrated on the campus before.

The ABVP, nevertheless, said it will celebrate Ram Navami on the campus on 6 April, while the CPI(M)'s student wing SFI vowed it would not allow the celebration, igniting fears about the possibility of disturbances.

"The office of the registrar has conveyed to the ABVP's JU unit that the permission to observe Ram Navami on the campus cannot be given considering several factors," a university official told PTI.

He recalled the clash between ABVP and Left-leaning students during the celebration marking the Ram temple inauguration.

Also, there has been no past history of celebrating Ram Navami in the university, he said.

JU student and ABVP member Somsurya Banerjee, nevertheless, vowed to celebrate Ram Navami on the campus this year.

"Last year, as well, permission was not granted to celebrate Ram Navami on the campus and we accepted the decision. But this year, we will celebrate Ram Navami, come what may," he said.

"If Iftaar party can be allowed on the campus, why can't Ram Navami be celebrated? There are no curbs on celebrating Saraswati Puja, and rightly so," he said.

A member of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) said the Left-leaning students would not allow ABVP to celebrate Ram Navami on the campus, either by the students of the university or outsiders.

Jadavpur University Teachers' Association general secretary Partha Pratim Roy said the university does not have a history of celebrating Ram Navami and expressed apprehensions, citing the clash during the celebration marking the Ram temple inauguration.

In the last few years, with the BJP gaining ground in West Bengal, Ram Navami is celebrated in a big way, with hundreds of colourful rallies adorned with cutouts of Lord Rama being brought out.

This year, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has said that over "1.5 crore Hindus" will participate in Ram Navami rallies across the state on 6 and 7 April.

SFI state committee member Subhajit Sarkar said the student body's members will also hit the streets on April 6 and 7 and hold camps at "sensitive spots" and help maintain peace and amity.