Tensions at Kerala Univ as SFI demands removal of Bharat Mata portrait

Tension prevailed at the Kerala University Senate campus here on Wednesday over the display of a portrait of Bharat Mata as part of a private function attended by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.

Activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students' wing of the ruling CPI(M), engaged in a war of words with the organisers of the event, Padmanabha Seva Samithi, and police, demanding to remove the portrait from the senate hall.

However, the organisers, a pro-right wing outfit, said they would not remove the Bharat Mata portrait from the stage as part of the event as they booked the hall after meeting all necessary procedures.

SFI leaders and university syndicate members, however, made it clear that they would not allow the programme to be held if the portrait was not removed from there, triggering tense moments on the campus.

Notwithstanding the tense situation, the governor reached the campus and attended the event.

Besides the SFI activists, the workers of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) also took part in the protest outside the Senate campus. DYFI is the youth wing of the CPI(M).

It was a tough time for the police personnel to control the protesters who squatted on the road and raised slogans against the display of the Bharat Mata portrait. Some of them even tore away the display board of the programme placed in front of the gate.

The southern state has been witnessing a tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led LDF government over the display of the Bharat Mata portrait during official events at the Raj Bhavan here.

The Bharat Mata portrait row involving Governor Arlekar recently triggered a series of street protests and a war of words on June 21, with the ruling CPI(M)'s official mouthpiece publishing a hard-hitting editorial against the Raj Bhavan.