Students' organisations should not talk about breaking the country apart (tukde-tukde), senior RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale said on Friday, exhorting the ABVP to march forward with enthusiasm to work towards nation-building.
Hosabale, who is currently the general secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has for a long time worked as the organisational secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Speaking at the release of a compendium of two books recording the 75-year history of the students' organisation, Hosabale described the RSS-affiliated ABVP as the "torchbearer of nationalism".
"Every student organisation by nature is anti-establishment. No doubt about it. At times, the young generation has to raise its voice against the government for welfare of the people, but it (students' organisation) should not call for doing 'tukde-tukde' of the country," Hosabale said without naming any organisation.
"They should not have a grudge towards society and spread hatred towards civilisation. They should not work to create chaos in society," he added.
"In the name of revolution, they should not talk about bloodshed in the country. Can they bring revolution by killing their own people? To stop such forces in the universities across the country which want to bring revolution at the behest of gun, ABVP workers have sacrificed their lives," Hosabale said.
Hosabale said every student organisation wants to bring about change but the path it chooses to achieve this goal is important as he underlined that the students' organisations should work in a creative way with a sense of responsibility towards society and work for nation-building.
"Today, slogans are raised inside universities by forces that want to break the country. Such forces want to demoralise the nation by breaking its self-confidence. Amid all this, it is important that an organisation (ABVP) which is the torchbearer of nationalism marches forward with enthusiasm and work towards nation building and overall welfare of the society," Hosabale said.
His comments came days after two groups of students clashed at JNU’s Kaveri Hostel on April 10 allegedly over serving of non-vegetarian food on Ram Navami in the mess, with police saying 20 students were injured in the violence.
The two students groups lodged police complaints against each other, while varsity authorities claimed the violence occurred after some students objected to a 'hawan', an assertion also made by RSS-affiliate ABVP.
Emphasising that the ABVP is more about student activism than student politics, Hosabale said its contribution to develop student strength as national strength has not been recognised yet.
Hosabale also said that the ABVP is following what veteran communist leader and former Kerala chief minister EMS Namboodiripad suggested about student organisations in his last days that they should not be a wing of a political party and instead play a contributory role, not merely a demanding one.
The RSS leader said Namboodiripad made these remarks in an interview on the anniversary of SFI, the left wing student organisation.
Similarly, when Marathwada University in Maharashtra was renamed after Babasaheb Ambedkar, senior state leaders Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale had hailed the ABVP for playing a decisive role in it being done peacefully.
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