Kolkata: In a near repeat of Sep 27, supporters of the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Manch on Sunday attempted to break through the gates and enter the SRFTI when blocked by police. The protesters hurled bottles and stones and kept pushing and shoving the gates, reigniting tensions on campus. Students and professors were seen standing inside wearing helmets. The Manch, however, claimed they were attacked first.Students declared a total academic halt until the VC and the registrar resign, taking accountability and issuing a formal apology. The students have also demanded that SRFTI immediately lodge an FIR against the groups —specifically the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP) and Hindu Jagran Manch — who organised the rally and carried out the attack.The second flashpoint in little over a week took place after the Manch held a scheduled protest meeting near SRFTI. Rohit Shaw, South Bengal Hindu Jagran Manch Pranta Pramukh, said it was to protest the disrespect shown to photos of Bharat Mata and Swami Vivekananda on Sep 27.Addressing the administration’s inaction, Nachiket Neelima, general secretary of the SRFTI students’ union, stated: “The vice chancellor is standing and doing nothing. He told that we are safe but this is not the safety were talking about. He said that we have to back off. This is our campus and we have not called a rally, We told him that we will not back off. We had not called for a protest. We had placards with photos of Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Gandhiji, BR Ambedkar and Swami Vivekananda.“Neelima further emphasized the complete lack of trust in the administration, noting that the vice chancellor attempted to install CCTVs under the pretext of feeling threatened by students. According to Neelima, it took four days of repeated requests before the administration issued a press release, which she criticized as flawed for claiming normalcy and resumed classes while students were actively observing an academic boycott.Detailing the events of Sunday afternoon, Neelima added: “On Sunday afternoon, we had gone to have a word with our VC. We expressed our apprehensions and told him that such a rally would compromise our safety and security. He said that he can’t do anything is an organisation takes out a rally.”VC Santosh Ajmera was unavailable for comment.As the meeting began, students stood guard inside in protest. Right-wing activists suddenly broke through police barricades and approached the SRFTI gates, attempting to break in. Video footage caught protesters hurling bottles inside.Sneha Malakar, a 17th-batch editing student from SRFTI, told TOI that many students and faculty members wore helmets for protection. Still, at least two female students were injured. “Both were hit on their heads by stones pelted by the crowd outside our gate. One was bleeding, we had to give her basic first aid on campus until police managed to disperse the crowd outside. Later, they were escorted to the hospital. After repeatedly flagging and requesting the admin and police not to permit the protest from Ajaynagar crossing to our campus gate, it was still allowed. We took all precautions we could. All students were inside, and the gates were locked at 2.30 pm. We were singing protest songs and gathered near the gate, keeping a safe distance,” Malakar said.She added that after the march reached the campus, several men tried to climb over the gates and break through the barricades outside. “They were throwing stones and bottles from outside. A few students, faculty members, and our security personnel were injured. It seems like a repeat telecast of what happened last Sunday,” Malakar added.Director Anirban Datta, vice president of SRFTI’s alumni association, said: “There were so many cops in front, and yet stones were being pelted and bottles thrown. I am wondering what is happening and whether we are heading towards a collapse of law and order in the state.”Two filmmakers who rushed to the institute upon learning of the bottle and stone-pelting incident expressed shock at the escalation. Filmmaker Debalina recounted hearing someone brandishing a rod shout: “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro saalon ko” (loosely translated from Hindi as “Shoot the traitors of the country”). “I have a personal video recording of this slogan in front of the SRFTI campus. Since Farha Khatun and I were standing outside, I have recordings of how men from outside were pelting stones and bottles at students.“According to her, these attacks as a deliberate strategy to divert public attention. “From stalling permissions to screen films in Kerala to rise in prices of daily commodities, our status of our country is slowly and surely dipping down. The attack on premiere institutes of the country is just a way of diverting attention of everyone from the real problems in this country. The strategy is to intensify the attack on our youth so that people are distracted,” she said.Sharing the tension from outside the campus gates, director Farha Khatun said: “My sister is a student of SRFTI. She was inside while I was outside the gate. On receiving constant messages from inside about how students were being hurt by stone pelting, Debalina-di and I rushed to get some medicines as first aid. But we didn’t even know how to send them inside. It was so scary to witness such an incident.”However, Shaw, the Manch Pranta Pramukh, said, “We held a peaceful meeting near SRFTI. Suddenly, stones and bottles were pelted at us from the campus. At that point, some of our karyakartas became agitated, but we managed to calm them down and move them away from the spot.” After that, they completed their scheduled programme by singing Vande Mataram and chanting the Hanuman Chalisa from the stage. He claimed none of their karyakartas tried to enter the campus forcefully. “They placed flags at the gate, but none of them tried to forcefully enter. Chanting the Hanuman Chalisa was not pre-planned, but when our karyakartas were attacked, we did so to maintain peace.” Shaw added, “A person might have a problem with the RSS ideology, but how could they show disrespect to Bharat Mata?”Advocate Anjan Sinha, Sangathan Mantri of the ABGP — the organisation whose programme was at the centre of the controversy last Sunday — said, “People of India are angry. It is not possible to control 140 crore people. If you are trying to be naughty, you should be prepared for such retaliation. Students who are 30 or 40 years old ought to be aware of the repercussions. This is a spontaneous outburst.”Film-maker Ronny Sen, who signed the solidarity statement, said, “Satyajit Ray fought all his life and spoke against religious dogmatism, the worst manifestation of religious extremism, where human beings become completely dehumanised and surrender themselves like the possessed devotees kissing the feet of Birinchibaba at the beginning of ‘Mahapurush’. It felt like watching a zombie film today, where a mob of hallucinating uncles, armed with weapons, tried to break into a film school to beat up students, in the presence of the police. What can be more contemptible, shameful, or morally disgusting than this? The degeneration of Kolkata is complete,” Sen said.(Inputs from Poulami Roy Banerjee)
