By Ashfaque Ej

A student protest at the Central University of Kerala (CUK) escalated after the university administration suspended five students for two weeks and police registered a case against 25 others, with student organisations accusing the administration of facilitating the “saffronisation” of the campus.

The suspensions followed protests against a two-day national seminar organised at the university to mark the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. The suspension order, issued on Thursday evening with immediate effect, directed the five students to vacate their hostels and leave the campus.

Following the order, students confronted proctor K Sreekumar, demanding that the suspensions be revoked and that he resign. The proctor was later seen being escorted by police amid the escalating protests.

Student organisations, except the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), subsequently marched towards the administration block and launched a blockade on Thursday evening. The protest continued on Friday, with students boycotting classes and demanding the withdrawal of the suspension order.

Meanwhile, activists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) Kasaragod district committee, who marched towards the university demanding the revocation of the suspensions, were met with water cannons deployed by the Kerala Police.

The suspended students include SFI CUK secretary Syed Ali, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) CUK president Muhammed Yaseen S, SFI secretariat member Aaved VB, and Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF) activists Shabeer and Thakiyuddin.

NSUI CUK accused the university administration of targeting students along communal lines. The five suspended students reportedly have Muslim names.

“By choosing to suspend students based on communal segregation, the administration is no less than targeting and imposing the Hindutva politics and agenda upon students. It is unbecoming of the administration and the proctor, who himself is a declared RSS worker and supporter,” the NSUI said in a press statement.

This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.