New Delhi: Students of Jamia Millia Islamia were allegedly subjected to excessive force by university guards while protesting against an event organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad to celebrate 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on the university campus. The ‘Yuva Kumbh’ event was held inside the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Auditorium and was attended by Vice Chancellor Mazhar Asif. Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel had been deployed in and around the university.Delhi Police outside Jamia Millia Islamia. Credit: Uthara U.R.Rapid Action Force inside Gate 7 of Jamia Millia Islamia. Photo: Agraj“The administration does not let us conduct study circles. The guards surround and intimidate us. Yet such a blatantly political RSS event is being held inside the university,” said Saiyed, Delhi unit president of the All India Students’ Association. “The intention of this protest was to show our dissent and dissatisfaction against the RSS. It seems like institutions are being hijacked to further their mission of saffronising the nations. It cannot happen on the soil of Jamia.”The students alleged that the RSS stands against the very idea of universities as spaces of critical thinking and dissent, where the government can be questioned, and therefore does not deserve a place on campus.Poster of the event circulated by the ABVP.Students say this was a spontaneous protest, none of the students’ unions planned to mobilise the group or called for a protest. Despite that, both the Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force were deployed outside the campus with detention vans and buses.“When we tried to enter the auditorium where this event was happening, we were slapped and pushed by the guards. They even manhandled the female students. Punches were thrown at our chest,” said Nausheen Farooq, general secretary of the Fraternity Movement. Adhil Hasan, vice president of the Fraternity Movement “was punched so hard by one of the security guards that he had to be taken to the hospital”, she added.“There has been resentment in the air about the way our VC has been acting. RSS sympathisers are often called to the university and permissions are given to events organised by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad,” said Uthara, a final year student from the Department of Sociology.Some of the video shared by AISA shows students raising slogans such as “RSS wapas jao” and “Inquilab Zindabad”.“Across universities RSS holds these programmes with the same banner, claiming a legacy of 100 years of nation-building and progress. RSS who took no role in the freedom movement and even collaborated openly with the British colonisers today is distributing the card of nationalism only in order to consolidate its power. Our legacy of martyrs and freedom fighters fought for the democratic, secular India that stands united against the RSS today, whether in Jamia or beyond,” an Instagram post by AISA reads.“The intention of the event was to inspire the youth to contribute to nation building, but instead we were met with protests,” said Wafa Ahmed Naqvi, an ABVP member who participated in the Yuva Kumbh. “Sabko neta banna hai reelbaazi karke (Everyone wants to become a politician by making reels).”A rangoli made by Yuva Jamia, a right-wing students’ front. Photo: Special arrangement“They keep on beating around the bush about anti-CAA, NRC protests. Why can’t they forget the past and move on? The price of rolls and cold drinks in the canteen have been raised significantly. These are the real issues no one is talking about,” he added.The RSS played a significant role during the anti-CAA/NRC protests of 2019–20 by strongly backing the Narendra Modi government and defending the Citizenship Amendment Act which received vehement opposition from the students of Jamia Millia Islamia. The university became one of the major centres of resistance during the protests, and the Delhi Police – controlled by the Union home ministry – reacted with extreme force and violence against peacefully protesting students.The Wire reached out to the university administration to ask about its role in the event and the deployment of Delhi Police and RAF in and outside campus. This article will be updated when a response is received.