Mainstream WeeklyJadavpur University witnessed blatant right-wing violence on August 20, 2026. It is reported that clashes between the Left-wing students and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members during a general body meeting of FETSU (Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union) triggered the violence. The Telegraph reported (August 21, 2026):
Supporters of RSS student wing ABVP raided the Jadavpur University campus twice within a few hours to carry out what its leaders described as a “surgical strike” and a “Ram Navami puja” to “rid the campus of cockroaches”. A consolidation of Left student outfits resisted the attempt to storm the campus on Thursday afternoon (August 20), after having failed once shortly after Wednesday midnight when they were bombarded with burning balls of cloth.
It is further reported that the Jadavpur University emblem symbolising “knowledge, spiritual growth, and cultural refinement”, designed by the famous artist Nandalal Bose, was defiled, allegedly by ABVP supporters. (ibid.)
Initially, the state BJP leadership denied any connection of the Party with the vandalism witnessed in the Jadavpur University campus. Speaking to reporters, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya sought to draw a distinction between the BJP and the ABVP to distance the Party from the incident: “ABVP is not the student wing of BJP. It is a nationalistic students’ body which functions independently and is not a branch organisation of the BJP.” (Quoted in The Indian Express, August 21, 2026)
However, the chief minister of West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, took a partisan position on the violence unleashed by the ABVP in the Jadavpur University campus. To put it in the words of The Telegraph (August 23, 2026):
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari broke his silence two days after the vandalism at Jadavpur University by RSS student arm ABVP, to condemn not the raiders but the “tukde tukde gang, jihadis and anti-nationals”.
It is quite significant that the vice-chancellor of the University lodged a police complaint against “unknown outsiders/persons” 36 hours after the violent incidents in the campus, and no arrests have been made yet in connection with the vandalism and violence. It may be noted in this context that the ABVP held a press conference on August 23, 2026, and declared that it would free Jadavpur University from “anti-national activities” and “Naxal influence” within six months. (See The Telegraph, August 24, 2026)
A number of Jadavpur University teachers condemned the violence unleashed by the ABVP in the campus. Abhijit Gupta, professor of English, said: “…this was all very planned, not an emotional outburst. It was well executed. Coming to the campus at night and entering with outsiders was planned, and there was a cold calculation behind it. The aim was to teach JU students a lesson for daring to question those in power…On a more serious note, the attack on students at night signals a great poverty of imagination and ideology.” (Quoted in The Telegraph, August 22, 2026)
A prominent Left-wing student leader, president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), Neha Bora linked the ABVP violence in the Jadavpur University campus with that in the other campuses. She said: “From the violence at JNU to that at DU (Delhi University) and now at Jadavpur University, the only thing – and the only student activity – that the ABVP carries out and has carried out for a long time has been violence.”
The brutal violence witnessed in the Jadavpur University campus is an assault on our nationalist heritage, as the formation of the University has its nationalist roots.