Students protest Vande Mataram seminar at Kerala university

Student organisations protested at the Central University of Kerala on October 6, with police blocking demonstrators from entering a seminar hall and a push-and-pull confrontation reported outside the venue. The seminar, organised around the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, was scheduled to run for two days, October 6 and 7. The protest involved members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Muslim Students Federation (MSF), All India Students Federation (AISF) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), according to reports. Demonstrators objected to the participation of J. Nandakumar, national convener of Prajna Pravah, who was listed as the seminar’s keynote speaker, and to the role of Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad as a co-organiser. Protesters gathered outside the hall, carried their organisations’ flags and shouted slogans against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Students also said that some people who had registered for the programme were denied entry. A university official identified as the Dean of Student Affairs said he did not know why registered students were being excluded and would ask the organisers.