BJP MLA Sarbari Mukherjee denies provoking ABVP agitators in Jadavpur University clash
BJP MLA Sarbari Mukherjee denied allegations that she provoked ABVP agitators during the Jadavpur University clash. Her denial came as rival student groups and political camps traded blame over the campus violence.
Bengal BJP MLA Sarbari Mukherjee on Saturday denied allegations that she provoked ABVP agitators during a clash between two student groups with different political affiliations at Jadavpur University. She said she never entered the campus and was not present at the spot.
The clash broke out early on Thursday after a general meeting of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union led to violence between members of the RSS-affiliated ABVP and Left-leaning student groups. Several students were injured in the incident.
Rejecting allegations about her role in the violence, the Jadavpur MLA alleged that the Left-leaning SFI and RSF instigated ABVP activists to enter the campus after a member of the RSS student wing was injured.
"How can I enter the campus? I was not on the spot. I only accompanied some BJP youths in the area during a peaceful assembly in front of the Jadavpur police station area on Wednesday night. Then I left the spot. The BJP has never been associated with ABVP, and I did not attend any of their programmes," she said.
The BJP has also distanced itself from the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, with West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya saying that the "ABVP is not the student's wing of BJP".
"It is a nationalistic student's body which functions independently and is not a branch organisation of the BJP," he had said.
Mukherjee also denied making any provocative statements and said, "CCTV footage will show I was not involved and was not present there. Nor did I take part in the ABVP rally or any other rally the next day."