The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the Congress party, staged a protest outside the Delhi University’s PG men’s hostel on Thursday. The protest was in response to a notice sent to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the hostel’s provost, KP Singh, following his visit to the hostel last week.
During the protest, NSUI members raised slogans and burnt an effigy of Singh, demanding the withdrawal of the notice. The NSUI criticized the provost for sending the notice, stating that it was an attack on the dignity of a national leader who has Z-plus security.
The notice sent by Singh had stated that Gandhi’s conduct during his visit was “beyond dignity” for a national party leader with high-level security. The Congress leader had made a “sudden” visit to the hostel, which apparently caused inconvenience to the students and hostel staff.
The NSUI has accused the hostel authorities of bias against Congress leaders and questioned why similar notices were not sent to other political leaders who have visited the hostel in the past.
This is not the first time that the NSUI has staged a protest in support of Gandhi. In the past, the organization has held demonstrations demanding the release of the Congress leader when he was detained by the police during his visit to Uttar Pradesh.
The protest outside the Delhi University hostel is likely to escalate tensions between the Congress and the ruling BJP, which has been targeting Gandhi over his recent visits to different parts of the country.
The Congress party has accused the BJP of trying to intimidate Gandhi and stifle his voice by using the police and other government agencies. The BJP, on the other hand, has accused the Congress of indulging in “politics of appeasement” and “dynastic politics.”
The NSUI’s protest outside the Delhi University hostel is likely to draw attention to the issue of political bias in educational institutions, which has been a subject of debate in recent years.
Many students’ organizations and activists have accused the ruling BJP of trying to impose its ideology on educational institutions by appointing its members as vice-chancellors and faculty members.
The Congress party and the NSUI have been vocal in their opposition to what they call the “saffronization” of education, and have accused the BJP of trying to erase the country’s secular and pluralistic character.
The protest outside the Delhi University hostel is likely to spark further debates on these issues and highlight the growing divide between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.
