The students body claims that RSS and ABVP cadres are being brought onto campuses, threatening student safety and undermining autonomy of educational institutions
NEW DELHI — The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has strongly condemned holding of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Shakhas on university campuses, including Delhi University, Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Rajasthan University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
In a statement on Friday, the SFI Central Executive Committee said universities belong to students and academic communities, not to the RSS. It alleged that with official patronage, RSS and ABVP cadres are being brought onto campuses, threatening student safety and undermining autonomy of educational institutions.
The statement was issued by SFI president Adarsh M Saji and general secretary Srijan Bhattacharyya.
The CPIM’s students wing accused university administrations of enabling the RSS instead of safeguarding academic freedom. “This is part of a continuous attack by the RSS-BJP on campuses based on critical thinking, scientific temperament, and democracy,” the statement said, adding that dissenting students and professors are being targeted while the RSS is given a free hand.
As the RSS marks its centenary, the SFI reiterated that the organisation stood against India’s freedom struggle and secularism. Calling Hindutva proponents like Savarkar and Golwalkar symbols of a “regressive and dangerous ideology,” SFI said allowing the RSS into educational spaces was an “assault on India’s Constitution, culture, and collective memory.”
The SFI urged students, teachers, and democratic forces to resist what it called the “saffronisation of education” and defend the right to inclusive and secular learning.
