Presidency University has constituted a five-member committee to probe the alleged defacement of Swami Vivekananda’s portrait on an ABVP banner, following a complaint by the RSS-affiliated student organisation.
The ABVP’s Presidency unit alleged that some students wrote “rapist” and “throw garbage” on its banner.
In a notification issued on Wednesday, the university registrar said: “It has come to light that an unfortunate incident had occurred involving disfiguring of a portrait of Swami Vivekananda, along with the reported use of inappropriate language concerning other organisations.”
“The university has taken serious note of the matter, and, in the interest of a fair and impartial investigation, constituted an enquiry committee to examine the circumstances surrounding the incident and submit its findings and recommendations to the competent authority.”
The committee will submit its report within 15 working days. The dean of students has also been asked to provide CCTV footage to the panel as and when required.
“Presidency is committed to upholding the ideas of thinkers. We are not going to tolerate any abuse to any thinkers or ideas or organisations,” registrar Debajyoti Konar told Metro.
Campus sources believe the alleged defacement took place after a protest on Tuesday against the attacks on Jadavpur University and the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, allegedly by RSS-affiliated outfits.
“We suspect that it happened after this gathering. One can have differences with the ABVP or the RSS. But nobody has the right to disrespect Swami Vivekananda. We want the authorities to punish those offenders who dared to disrespect Swami Vivekananda,” said Saraswat Hazra, president of the ABVP’s Presidency unit. H
Hazra said the words “throw garbage” had been written at the bottom of the ABVP banner. He added that the ABVP’s Mahanagar unit had lodged an FIR at Jorasanko police station. The ABVP also held a protest at Presidency on Wednesday afternoon.
The allegation comes days after a similar charge at SRFTI. The Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, an RSS-affiliated organisation that works for consumer rights, had alleged that students disrupted its programme at the institute’s auditorium on September 27, pulled down a banner bearing images of Swami Vivekananda and Bharat Mata.
SRFTI students said they tore down the banner after several of them had been chased and assaulted by members of the group.
Bitan Islam, a member of the SFI’s Calcutta district committee, said: “We will continue to oppose the ABVP and other wings of the RSS. However, the SFI does not support disrespecting the image of Swami Vivekananda. Let the inquiry committee come up with its findings.”