‘Hindutva Ke Naam Par Thekedari Nahi Chalegi’: BHU Students Protest Outside RSS Office For Backing Muslim Teacher In Hindu Theology College

For over three weeks now, students of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan (SVDV) — one of the eight faculties in BHU — have been protesting the appointment of Firoz Khan as assistant professor, urging the administration to transfer him to another Sanskrit department within the university.

Last week, representatives of Samskrita Bharati, an affiliate of the RSS, told the media that they urged students to revoke the protests and requested the university authorities to “bring the situation back to normal at the earliest”.

The Pune office of Samskrita Bharati issued a press release that reportedly said, “There is a misunderstanding connected to the subject Dharma Shastra. Dharma doesn’t mean Religion.”

Later, Jai Prakash Lal, a senior functionary of the RSS in Kashi region, also gave a statement supporting the appointment of Khan.

In their protest outside the RSS office, the students demanded the resignation of Lal and urged the organisation to issue another statement in support of students. They also raised slogans accusing RSS of trying to be the sole custodian of Hinduism, Hindutva and Lord Ram.

“Dharm ke naam par thekedari nahi chalegi nahi chalegi… Hindutva ke naam par thekedari nahi chalegi nahi chalegi… Ram ke naam par thekedari nahi chalegi nahi chalegi,” they said.

Watch the video here:

It is pertinent to mention here that contrary to what a section of the media has reported, the protesting students do not belong to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), as this correspondent found in a visit to the campus.

The university does not have a student union. It was banned in 1997 after campus was hit by violence.

Among others, the Press Trust of India has reported that the protesters are “mostly from the RSS-affiliated students’ union ABVP”.