RSS-backed employees' organisation holds 'sakha' activities in Left bastion Jadavpur University

Kolkata: Members of the RSS-backed West Bengal University Karmachari Parishad held drills and other 'sakha activities' at the football ground of Jadavpur University, signalling the saffron camp's growing footprint in an institution long seen as a Left bastion.

The secretary of the employees' organisation, Palash Maji, said drills and "Bauddhik (intellectual)" sessions were held from 6.30 am on Tuesday and declared that the campus would be "re-nationalised" and "freed from Maoist influence".

This followed a rally by pro-RSS employees on Wednesday, during which participants carrying saffron flags marched from the Arts-Science intersection to Aurobindo Bhavan, raising slogans.

Maji claimed the university, traditionally identified with Left-oriented student politics and activism, "would no longer tolerate anti-national activities on campus." He also announced plans to remove "objectionable" graffiti and wall writings, and said the daily "shakha" would include physical training as well as ideological discussions aimed at promoting nationalism among students and staff.

The development comes amid an increased push by RSS-linked organisations to establish a stronger presence in higher educational institutions in the state following the BJP's ascent to power in Bengal.

A Jadavpur University official said the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shikshak Mahasangh (ABRSM), an RSS-affiliated teachers' body, met Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee on Monday, seeking recognition and demanding stricter discipline on the campus.

Meanwhile, the university on Wednesday began a three-day mentoring programme on innovation and entrepreneurship under the Centre's PM-SHRI scheme that will continue till May 15.

The PM-SHRI initiative had earlier been opposed by the previous Trinamool Congress government.

A photo of BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee was placed on the walls of the university vice-chancellor's room along with that of Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and other luminaries on Monday. Mookerjee's photo had not been in the chamber earlier.

The vice-chancellor explained that he was gifted the photo only two to three days ago and pointed out that Mookerjee was a renowned academic.

RSS functionaries claimed that the number of shakhas in West Bengal has risen sharply over the years --- from around 1,350 in 2012 to more than 4,325 in 2026 -- reflecting, what they described, as growing public acceptance of the organisation's ideology in the state.