A scuffle broke out between ABVP and Left-affiliated outfits and charges and counter-charges were traded in JNU

NEW DELHI: A scuffle broke out between ABVP and Left-affiliated outfits and charges and counter-charges were traded in JNU over a Ravan Dahan and a Durga immersion on Thursday. The Leftist outfits alleged that an effigy of former students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam – who are facing trial in a 2020 Delhi riots case – along with Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, was burnt during a Ravan Dahan. They accused ABVP of communal propaganda. ABVP, on the other hand, alleged that its Durga immersion procession was attacked.Videos from the campus showed groups of students raising slogans and flashing slippers, while security personnel formed a chain to prevent an escalation.TOI was unable to independently confirm the details of the two events. ABVP said the effigy burning was symbolic of the end of “Naxalism, Leftism, Maoist violence and anti-national ideologies”. Khalid, Imam, Guru and Naxal movement leaders Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal had replaced Ravan’s heads. ABVP, on the other hand, said the Left groups threw stones and abused students at the Durga Visarjan.JNUSU joint secretary Vaibhav Meena, who is from ABVP, said it was a “direct assault on the cultural harmony of the university” and “the soil of JNU will no longer be the centre for glorifying Naxalism and Leftist mentality”.ABVP’s statement said that the Left groups “attacked” the immersion procession near the Sabarmati T-Point around 7 pm”. It said several students were injured, PTI reported.The Left-affiliated outfits rejected the claim. They asked why Nathuram Godse or Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh were not depicted as Ravan. “JNU rejects the politics of hate and Islamophobia,” they said.