JNU tremors find echo in Hyderabad, students held

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, February 14

The political tremors over the arrest of JNU students in New Delhi have found their echo in Hyderabad, leading to the preventive detention of some student activists.

The rival student groups at the Osmania University here clashed over a planned protest against the arrest of JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the National Capital.

Tension prevailed at Osmania University campus when members of All India Students Federation (AISF), the student wing of CPI, gathered near the Arts College building to stage a protest against Kumar’s arrest and burn the effigy of the Union Government.

The Leftist student activists are also demanding immediate release of Kumar and dropping of sedition charge against him. In counter move, the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to BJP, objected to the protest programme of their rival group.

At least 14 activists, belonging to ABVP and AISF, were taken into preventive custody after they got into a heated argument. The wordy duel turned serious and the members of the two organisations virtually came to blows before the police stepped in to defuse the situation. Ten members of ABVP and four of AISF have been taken into preventive custody, the police said.

Osmania University campus was the epicentre of the Telangana statehood movement and had witnessed repeated clashes between pro-Telangana agitators and the police in the past.

Last month, the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) following the alleged discriminatory practices at the campus had triggered nationwide outrage.