Student groups clash during Diwali festivities in Jamia Millia Islamia campus

NEW DELHI: A scuffle erupted at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia institute on Tuesday night as two group of students clashed over Diwali celebrations inside the campus. The altercation between two groups of students occurred during rangoli-making festivities.

While police have been deployed outside the university, no formal complaints have been filed by the college administration or any student regarding the clash.

University authorities claimed that the situation has been brought under control, however, the administration has not disclosed the cause of the confrontation.

A video of the incident has also gone viral on social media, showing chaos inside the campus. A group of people are purportedly seen chanting slogans, in what appears to be a video from the Diwali festivities inside the campus.

The incident took place during the annual Diwali celebrations, conducted by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wind of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Some reports claimed that the altercation broke out after a group of students ruined the rangolis, leading to disruption in celebrations.

The ABVP has condemned the college administration over inaction on errant students and demanded strict action from Delhi police.

“On Tuesday evening, during the Deepotsav program at Jamia Millia Islamia, students were chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, and the program was going on peacefully. At around 8 p.m., outsiders, religious fanatics, and anti-social elements at the venue vandalised the lamps of Deepotsav, erased the rangoli, and began attacking the Jamia students participating in the festivities,” the ABVP said in a statement in Hindi.

The Student Federation of India (SFI) also issued a statement and claimed that it was an “attack on university students by outsiders invited by the administration.”

The SFI claimed that the outsiders were brought in “to create communal tension on campus,” adding that ABVP members, along with their “gang of local goons,” shouted communal slogans.

“When some university students objected to their behaviour, the outsiders, led by their state leaders, unleashed violence. Police intervened with a lathi charge, which hurt and scared many students while the actual perpetrators were protected,” the SFI claimed.

This incident is not the first such altercation at Jamia Millia Islamia. Similar clashes occurred during Holi celebrations earlier this year, with students engaging in provocative sloganeering.

In May, a separate incident saw two groups clash, resulting in three individuals, including two students, being injured. (IANS)