Kasaragod: Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday portrayed Tuesday’s student protest against the RSS at the Central University of Kerala as an agitation against Vande Mataram and called for action against those raising slogans against the national song. Students reacted strongly by disrupting the next session of the national seminar.

Addressing the valedictory session of the two-day national seminar marking the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Arlekar said the protest at the university was “not an isolated incident” and suggested that it was connected to a wider effort to oppose the national song. “Some children come and raise slogans in opposition to Vande Mataram. From Delhi right up to our own streets, when such people stand up, we need to find out who was behind it and what force was behind it. We all have to act against that. Not merely find out, but act,” he said.

However, the students who protested on Tuesday neither raised slogans against Vande Mataram nor disrupted the seminar. Their protest was against what they described as the seminar being turned into a platform for RSS ideologues and members, with most of the speakers associated with the right-wing organisation.

Protesters repeatedly raised slogans of “RSS go back” and objected to the participation of J Nandakumar, national convenor of Prajna Pravah, the intellectual wing of the RSS, as the keynote speaker at the event.
However, Governor Arlekar described the protest as the “infiltration” of opposing ideas among intellectuals. "All this infiltration, particularly among intellectuals, has to be curtailed. It has to be taken care of," he said.
“Whatever is happening among intellectuals, we need to correct it. There are institutions where we need to take this subject forward,” he said.

“If some people come to oppose Vande Mataram, we will have the courage to deal with them and move forward. We will move ahead. We will not tolerate any such nonsense anymore in this country,” he said. His remarks drew applause from the audience.

Arlekar also said he was "pained" by the stance of the judiciary on Vande Mataram, referring to a 1995 Kerala High Court judgment, which held that there was no constitutional or statutory provision making the singing of Vande Mataram compulsory in schools.

'I don't know the meaning'
The Governor said Vande Mataram is a matter of pride but went on to say he did not know the meaning of the full song. "I do not know the meaning of all those six stanzas. I don't know. I don't understand much. I don't know Sanskrit or Bengali properly either. But Vande Mataram has created such powerful thoughts in my mind and heart. Nobody will be able to touch that now."

The Governor's speech was followed by the full rendition of Vande Mataram and the national anthem Jana Gana Mana.

Student protests
The next session, however, was disrupted by students from various political affiliations, except the RSS-linked ABVP. They entered the auditorium while Central University of Kerala Linguistics professor and chief proctor Sreekumar P, the university’s disciplinary authority, was speaking.

SFI unit secretary Syed Ali took the microphone from Sreekumar and questioned the faculty members' response to the Governor's remarks. “When the Governor came to the campus and called the students of the campus anti-national, the teachers sat as if the cat caught their tongue. Who gave them the right to decide who is an anti-national? We are not allowing this programme to continue,” he said.

Students raised slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “RSS go back”, with one student holding a boot in their hands.

Sreekumar said he was willing to withdraw his presentation if that would allow the programme to continue. The students then questioned him over the Governor's remarks. “What were you doing when the Governor called your students anti-nationals? In what sense are we anti-nationals?” asked SFI activist Rajlakshmi, an English department student.

The confrontation came a day after Sreekumar had apologised to students on behalf of the organisers for preventing registered participants from entering the venue amid the police deployment.

In a statement on Wednesday, SFI said students had cooperated with the two-day seminar but alleged that it had been organised in a manner in which only RSS and RSS-affiliated persons were invited and allowed to participate.

“The protest of the student community, which was held at the library on 6th October, was for not letting the students in the library participate in the program. But a false narrative is being told that the students are against the program and Vande Mataram,” SFI said.

The university had also issued a circular ahead of the seminar invoking the amended law relating to disruption of the national anthem and national song, warning of imprisonment of up to three years for violations.

SFI joint secretary Murali Krishna said students feared that the Governor's remarks could now be used against those who protested on Tuesday. “We fear the Governor's speech will be used to witch-hunt those who protested against the RSS on Tuesday,” he said.