Wanting to Mark Bhagat Singh’s Martyrdom, Girl Gets Suspended From College

Bhopal: 20-year-old Asma Khan, a second year B.Sc student has been rusticated from a local college after she wrote an angry post on her Facebook page calling her college administration unpatriotic. What sparked her anger was denial by college authorities to the Bhagat Kranti Dal (BKD), of which Asma was a member, to hold a function in memory of legendary freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev who were hanged by the British on 23 March 1931.

This comes in the background of the BKD defeating the RSS student wing ABVP in the college students union elections. BKD won three posts while ABVP had to be content with only one. In most colleges ABVP has won, backed as it is by the ruling party in the state and the centre. There has been a series of tense stand-offs between BKD and ABVP at the college since this defeat.

Although Asma immediately deleted her post fearing backlash, someone took a screenshot of the post and circulated it on social media. A day after the post, on March 22, 2018, Asma Khan was given a letter by the college authorities saying, ‘owing to your uncultured post on social networking site Facebook in which you had cited all college professors’ anti-national and alleged the institution for nurturing anti-national ideologies, you are being rusticated for a year.’      

Asma Khan thinks that the college administration has done it deliberately because she is politically and socially active in the college.

“They have done it intentionally. On many occasions, professor had shown their disappointment to me for being politically active. Moreover, without giving any notice and without knowing my intentions, how can college administration suspend me? And ask me and my parents to submit apology letter,” Asma said.

Principal of the college Neeraj Agnihotri however fumed at Asma. “What she had done is wrong. She should apologies for it. How can she level such allegations on professors?” he told NewsClick.

Asma however remained adamant. “I will not apologies before them. I did nothing wrong. I have freedom of speech and expression. Sensing backlash from my friends, I had already deleted the post,” she asserted.  

BKD had sought permission from MVM administration to hold Shaheed Diwas programme. After couple of hours, ABVP followed their footsteps and gave application for the same event and same venue. Suspecting conflict, the college administration denied permission to both ABVP and BKD. “When we came to know about their applications we decided to give them separate places in the campus but not auditorium,” Principal Agnihotri said.  

“BKD has been organising this event since 2011 in the college auditorium but due to pressure from ABVP the college administration declined our application,” Asma Khan said.

To protest against this injustice, BKD members began an indefinite fast on March 19, the day Asma Khan began a Facebook campaign and asked “alumni and all patriotic students to support BKD in this fight for honour of martyrs. The strike lasted 40 hours and ended after city police shooed them away at night from the protest site.

As per the sources, similar conflict had arisen during the Holi celebration. When BKD sought permission to celebrate Holi Milan Samaraoh in the college, college administration denied saying holding religious event in the college auditorium is prohibited. But they allowed ABVP to celebrate the same event on March 7, at the college auditorium. The administration even provided the college sound system for their use.    

When questioned about this, Agnihotri said, “I was on leave during Holi. I’m not aware what happened then.”  

Asma met the principal with her father Mohammed Mahfooz, a plumber, and mother Shamshad but he refused to reconsider the rustication and asked her to offer a written apology. He said even if she were to apologise in writing, the final decision would be taken by the staff council.

“If I apologies, they brand me like a criminal and my career will end in limbo,” Asma said.

Denying allegations that they pressured college authorities, ABVP organisation secretary Arun Dangi said, “All we wanted was an apology from her. Despite having sufficient time she refused to offer any apology. We have no role in her rustication.’’

Meanwhile, the Congress student wing, NSUI jumped into the matter and accused ABVP for Asma Khan’s rustication.