Bengaluru: The anticipated visit of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to Hyderabad’s Osmania University has sparked a tremendous controversy. Mr Gandhi is scheduled to visit Telangana on May 6 and 7, when he will address students at Osmania University, among other events. The case has now gone to court, with the students launching an appeal to have Mr Gandhi’s visit approved.
Mr Gandhi was scheduled to visit the campus on May 7 for a “non-political” meeting with students, according to the Congress.
However, university officials have reportedly stated that Mr Gandhi will not be permitted to speak because no political activity is permitted on campus.
After a High Court decision in June 2017, the institution approved a resolution prohibiting non-academic activities on campus, including political engagement, according to university officials.
However, some members of the faculty are in favour of Mr Gandhi’s visit. If Rahul Gandhi comes to discuss concerns with students, according to law professor G Vinod Kumar, it is not political but intellectual activity.
It has been seen by Congress officials as the state’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaning on the university, implying that Mr Gandhi is being kept away from an institution that is regarded the epicentre of the Telangana agitation.
“Why are they stopping him? If Sonia Gandhi had not given Telangana, would you have become chief minister and minister? said Congress leader Hanumantha Rao”.
“After the coming of Telangana, have the young people got what was promised — jobs, fee reimbursement, what are your problems in hostel, he will ask. So KCR is stopping and arresting our activists and putting them in jail. It is wrong… it is not a public meeting. Students will tell Rahul Gandhi their issues,” he added.
Activists from the NSUI, the Congress’s student branch, staged a protest on campus yesterday over the rejection of permission. They were later apprehended by the cops.
The TRS’s student branch and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a students’ organisation tied to the BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, staged counter-protests.
On May 6, Mr Gandhi will speak at a public meeting in Warangal. According to Revanth, the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, the conference is likely to draw around five lakh people.
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