A group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members created a ruckus at the Digambar Jain College in Baraut (Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh) over a statue installed on the college premises.
Their objection was to the fact that the statue of Bhagwan Mahavir—the 24th Jain Tirthankar—had been placed above a statue of Goddess Saraswati, the Hindu deity of learning.
Virendra Singh, principal of the college, said that the ABVP members had been misled by some mischievous elements. “The statue is of Shruti Devi—the Jain goddess of learning. In Jainism, there is a tradition that a Tirthankar is placed above every statue of a goddess,” he said.
The rumours, Singh believes, started last month when some restoration work was done on the statue and a wooden cover built over it. “Someone floated the wrong information that a statue of Goddess Saraswati had been placed below that of the Tirthankar. Shruti Devi, though, looks nothing like Goddess Saraswati and does not bear the veena or sit on a lotus,” he said.
The said statue was unveiled in 2016 during the centenary celebrations of the college, which had been attended by then governor Ram Naik.
The ABVP is the student body of the BJP. Singh said, “Such bodies should work for the welfare of students. But it was a very bad process in which they locked the college gates, held students hostage and disrupted classes. If they had a grouse, they could have given a petition peacefully.”
In videos of the incident, which occurred on Tuesday, a group of ABVP members are heard shouting Vidyarthi Parishad zindabad. Bharat Mata ki jai, even as a police officer tries to reason with them.
Agitated ABVP members, some from the college too, surrounded the small temple in which the statue is installed with slippers, threatening to bring it down. They also demanded that a statue of Goddess Saraswati replace the existing statue.
They threatened that if the statue is not changed, they would either throw it in the Ganga or dump it by the roadside.
The Jain community took out a procession against the agitation on Wednesday evening and handed over a petition to the college management. Baraut has a sizeable Jain population.
The college principal has filed a police complaint, naming 10 people for causing the ruckus.
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Article 30 of the Indian Constitution details the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. It says, “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.” Jains are included in the list of minorities.
A couple of faculty members that THE WEEK spoke to said on condition of anonymity that they considered the attitude of the college management provocative. “They had given in writing that they would resolve the matter within seven days. Yet on Wednesday, they allowed garlanding of the statue. The management thinks that it can prevail upon the local administration, but this is a dangerous route to take,” said one faculty member.
