Black flags fluttered and slogans reverberated at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University on September 19. It was a protest against the presence of the “Hindutvadi people” on the campus. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was holding a conference that day and had invited BJP leader and Union minister Babul Supriyo as the chief guest.
The protesting students had mobilised through WhatsApp in particular. “Tomorrow afternoon at 1, in the name of freshers, the ABVP is paving for the BJP’s entry by inviting the riot-mongering, hate-inciting MP Babul Supriyo and other Hindutvadi personnel,” read one WhatsApp message. “They plan on using their ‘democratic rights’ to incite communal and racial tensions in Bengal. We have to stand against such divisive forces at any cost. We have organised a protest at 1 pm in front of KP Basu Memorial Hall. If you want to stand against fascism, both on campus and outside it, you are asked to be present. Let our motto be: ‘From protest to resistance, till fascism is dead.’ We’ll see you there.”
