Kolkata: Men claiming to be members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad stormed the campus of the Vidyasagar University in Medinipur of the Paschim Medinipur district in Bengal, vandalising the premises while chanting “Jai Shri Ram” on May 8.The ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The incident took place on the same week when the Bharatiya Janata Party won the Bengal elections and a day before its leader Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as chief minister.Screengrab from a video showing the extent of damage at the Vidyasagar University.The portraits of two towering icons of the Bengal Renaissance, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Rabindranath Tagore, which used to be displayed inside the closed students’ union office were reportedly pulled down and severely damaged. Campus staff whom this reporter spoke to said that the men who claimed to be ABVP workers also entered the offices of the Vice- Chancellor and reportedly pressured him to also chant “Jai Shri Ram”. They also allegedly issued threats that the university would have to function according to the ABVP’s “directions.”Although the incident took place three days earlier, news on it spread on the evening of May 11, triggering widespread outrage across Medinipur, the homeland of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, after whom the university is named.The students’ union offices of the university – like universities and colleges across Bengal – have remained closed following directives issued by the Calcutta high court. The students union office at Vidyasagar University was no exception either.Notably, the university had had no active unit of the ABVP, several members of staff told this reporter.Among those who had stormed the university was an MBA student identified as Soumyadip Bera, who entered the campus claiming to be an ABVP student leader. He was allegedly accompanied by people who appeared to be outsiders to the staff who spoke to this reporter.Several eyewitnesses said that a group broke open the lock of the students’ union office. The men then marched to the offices of the university Registrar Jayanta Kishore Nandi and Vice-Chancellor Dipak Kumar Kar. Eyewitnesses claimed that papers lying on the tables of the two senior authorities of the University were thrown on the floor during the demonstration. The V-C was reportedly goaded to chant “Jai Shri Ram” as well.Staff of the university said that the men also threw a portrait of Vidyasagar to the ground and trampled upon it, while raising loud chants of “Jai Shri Ram”. Some allegedly said that there would be no place in the university for portraits of Vidyasagar, Tagore, or freedom fighter Khudiram Bose, and that only photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee would hang at the campus now.The agitators also reportedly demanded that 22 students who had failed in the recent examinations be declared passed, and that no student organisation other than the ABVP be allowed to function at the university.Also read: Arson, Intimidation and Communal Targeting Mark BJP Takeover of BengalSeveral individuals involved in the attack had, until only a few days ago, been associated with TMC-affiliated Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, those who spoke to The Wire said.V-C Kar declined to make a comment. University staff said he has not lodged a formal complaint with the administration.The Wire spoke to one of the men who had stormed the university, who requested that his name be withheld. “We had gone to meet the Vice-Chancellor regarding our demands. Some enthusiastic workers raised slogans and shouted, but nothing beyond that took place,” he said.The incident has triggered sharp reactions across academic circles in Medinipur. Expressing deep concern, West Bengal College and University Teachers Association leader and professor Bimal Das described the episode as “a shameful incident” for Vidyasagar University and said such events were unacceptable at an educational institution.Meanwhile, Students Federation of India’s Medinipur district secretary Ranit Bera announced that the organisation would submit a deputation to the district Superintendent of Police today (May 12), demanding strict action against attempts to create anarchy inside educational institutions.