SFI Slams RSS for Holding March at JNU Without Permission
Left student group calls RSS presence on campus an ideological threat and questions unequal treatment by university authorities.
New Delhi (Fikrokhabar News): The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a Left-leaning student organisation, has strongly criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for conducting a centenary march at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on September 28, reportedly without prior permission from the university administration.
In a statement issued on Friday, SFI JNU Secretary Parvathy accused the university of double standards, claiming that while progressive student groups are required to obtain permission for campus events, right-wing groups like the RSS and its student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), face no such restrictions.
“When progressive organisations like ours have to organise any event, we are required to take permission. But the RSS and the ABVP are given a free hand,” Parvathy said.
Videos of RSS members in uniform marching and performing drills on the JNU campus have gone viral, sparking backlash from students and activists who see it as a disturbing display of ideological intrusion into academic spaces.
SFI issued a scathing statement, calling the march an “assault on the Constitution, culture, and collective memory,” and said that “education belongs to the people, not to the RSS.”
Similar RSS marches have reportedly taken place in other educational institutions, including the University of Rajasthan, raising broader concerns about growing ideological influence in academic settings.
Defending the event, a member of the ABVP claimed that the annual march was held in a park within JNU’s residential area and did not require prior approval. However, critics argue that such explanations sidestep the broader issue of political bias and the shrinking space for dissent.
Tensions had already been high on campus following a recent protest by the JNU Students’ Union against an ABVP-organised “Ravan Dahan” event, where effigies of anti-CAA activists and former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were burned as Ravana.
Speaking at the protest, SFI Secretariat Member Gopika questioned the RSS’s claim to nationalism: “While the RSS-ABVP is out there distributing certificates of nationalism, one must ask what role the RSS played in the country’s freedom struggle. From plea petitions to open collaborations with the British police, the history of the RSS, no matter how much they try to rewrite it, is one of compromise and spinelessness in the face of colonialism.”
The incident has reignited debates over freedom of expression, political neutrality in academic institutions, and the perceived preferential treatment given to right-wing groups on university campuses.
