09/03/2026
Ambedkar Students’ Association strongly condemns the disgraceful and authoritarian actions of the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh Police and BJP–RSS leaders who were invited to the university campus. What happened today is a clear example of how university administrations are being used to serve the political agenda of the BJP–RSS while suppressing the democratic voices of students.
Universities are meant to be spaces of free thinking, debate and democratic expression. However, the incident at Panjab University today is a direct attack on these democratic values. Student organisations were peacefully protesting, which is their constitutional right in a democratic country. The protest was neither at the programme venue nor intended to disrupt the event. Students had already submitted written objections and held meetings with the administration to express their concerns.
Despite this, the university administration, under the leadership of the Vice-Chancellor, misused its authority and called the Chandigarh Police to suppress the voices of students. Peaceful student leaders were beaten, manhandled and illegally detained. Lathi-charging students for exercising their democratic rights exposes the authoritarian mindset of the administration and the political forces backing it.
Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University must publicly apologise to the students for this shameful and anti-democratic act. It must also be ensured that universities are not turned into political platforms for BJP–RSS leaders to spread their ideology and intimidate dissenting student voices.
Strict action must also be taken against the Chandigarh Police officials who brutally lathi-charged student leaders. The police must publicly disclose who ordered this violent action against peaceful students and under whose instructions the police entered the campus to suppress a democratic protest.
The most shameful moment of the programme occurred when some women students raised questions to the BJP–RSS leaders who were sitting as chief guests and speakers. Asking questions in a university is the most basic democratic practice. However, instead of answering those questions, the police and authorities forcibly removed those women students from the venue. Silencing women students for questioning powerful political figures reflects the deep intolerance and arrogance of the BJP–RSS leadership and those who protect them. It is even more shocking that this humiliation of women students took place in a university where the Vice-Chancellor herself is a woman. Instead of protecting the dignity, voice and democratic rights of women students, the administration chose to stand with those who tried to silence them.
Ambedkar Students’ Association stands firmly with all the student leaders who were attacked, harassed and detained by the police. We also stand in complete solidarity with the brave women students who raised questions and refused to remain silent.
Universities cannot and will not be turned into centres for spreading the ideological agenda of the BJP–RSS and their Manuvadi thinking. Any attempt to silence democratic voices, intimidate students, or impose political ideology on campuses will be strongly resisted by the student community.
Ambedkar Students’ Association
Panjab University, Chandigarh
