NCP, BJP student wings in staredown at Pune college over CAA

Student groups affiliated to the BJP and Nationalist Congress Party came face to face over the Citizenship Amendment Act on Monday in Pune's Fergusson College but heavy police deployment there ensured there was no untoward incident, an official said.

According to police, the NCP students' wing had met the principal of the college demanding a shutdown in protest against CAA.

However, a group of students from the BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad also arrived at the scene opposing closure of the college for the day as demanded by the NCP group, the official said.

"Heavy police presence at Fergusson College defused the situation. There was no untoward incident. The NCP group gave a memorandum to the principal and left," he said.

The CAA has been at the centre of protests as well as support rallies from different groups nationwide, some of the former turning violent.

The CAA enables migrants/foreigners of six minority communities from three specified countries, who have come to India before December 31, 2014 because of persecution on grounds of their religion, to apply for Indian citizenship.