Mangaluru: ABVP protests against Dr Samshul Islam's talk, oration continued amid protest

Students under the aegis of ABVP staged a protest against a scheduled talk by former professor of the University of Delhi, Dr Samshul Islam, organised as a part of BV Kakkilaya inspired oration, at Ravindra Kala Bhavan of University College in Mangaluru on Saturday. 

The protesters raised slogans like "Don't impose Leftist ideology in college campus", "Save UCM," "Bharath Mata Ki Jai" and "Go back Samshul".

Security was tightened at the University College. The students also shouted slogans near the closed doors of the hall.

The oration titled “First War of Independence 1857: Joint Martyrdoms, Joint Heritage" was held for two hours. The protest ended after Dr Islam left the venue after the conclusion of his speech.

Earlier, unveiling the four incidents related to the First War of Independence of 1857 in Karnataka, Dr Samshul said that he has collected the names of 136 martyrs from Karnataka who laid down their lives during the First War of Independence from the archives.

He said: “Paying homage to martyrs is respecting Bharath Mata also. When we fail to speak about martyrs, it sends a wrong message which is bad. If the protesters read the documents related to RSS which is anti-national and anti-humanity in nature, then they will put their head down in shame,” he said.

"Mahatma Gandhi was a 'Sanatan Dharmist'. Who killed Gandhi? He was not killed by a Pakistani or an IS agent, but by a fake and pseudo nationalist,” he said.

Mistaken identity 

Interestingly, the protesting students were not aware of who Dr Samshul Islam was. When Prof Kesavan Veluthat, former professor of the department of history at Mangalore University, arrived at the venue to attend the oration, the protesters tried to gherao him mistaking him for Dr Samshul Islam. Later, the police escorted him to the venue of the programme.