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Chandigarh, Nov 10 (IANS) Tension prevailed on the Panjab University campus on Monday with minor clashes between protesters and local police as students demanded holding of Senate elections, whose term ended last year.
The protest, which was mainly supported by farmers and Sikh organizations of Punjab apart from political parties, was declared by the students days after the central government withdrew its notification scrapping the elections for university governing bodies.
The police even had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the protesting students on the university campus. Over 2,000 police personnel were deployed across the city, with 12 checkpoints set up, causing traffic disruption, especially at the entry points to Chandigarh from Punjab and Haryana.
Students under the banner of Panjab University Bachao Morcha, which is leading the movement, were supported by hundreds of farmers from Punjab, who broke the police barricades set up at the Chandigarh-Mohali border and reached the protest site.
In view of the protests and criticism from the students, the Union Education Ministry withdrew its order on November 7, but the students continued their agitation and called for ‘PU Bandh’ till the announcement of the Senate election schedule.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab along with Haryana Police condemned the lathicharge on peaceful students by the Chandigarh Police.
A statement said the students were protesting peacefully against the dissolution of the Panjab University Senate and demanding fair Senate elections when the BJP-led administration responded with violence.
AAP leader Baltej Pannu said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has repeatedly warned that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to impose control over Punjab’s institutions and political structure through force and fraud.
The party said, “BJP wants to capture every democratic platform in Punjab from BBMB to Panjab University by misusing central power and deploying central forces. But Punjabis will never allow such an attack on their rights and autonomy.”
The statement said that under pressure from the students’ agitation, the previous notification to dissolve the Senate was withdrawn within minutes, exposing the BJP’s nervousness and double standards.
Pannu said, “AAP stands in full solidarity with the protesting students and supports their just and peaceful struggle for the autonomy and democratic functioning of Panjab University.”
Opposition leader in Punjab Pratap Singh Bajwa described the police action as a “blatant attack on democracy” and accused the administration of turning the university campus into a fortress, erecting barricades at every entry point and forcibly preventing students from entering.
Bajwa said, “Peaceful protest is not a crime – it is a constitutional right.” “Attempts to crush dissent with brute force are highly undemocratic and expose the BJP’s fear of the student voice,” he said.
–IANS
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