Stand-off between ABVP, Goa's St Xavier's over students' council

The Goa administration on Tuesday had to intervene in a stand-off between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the management of St Xavier’s College over a delay in the formal installation of the undergrad college students’ council.

The North Goa district administration was forced to intervene after ABVP activists stormed the college earlier this week and staged a dharna demanding that the college principal take steps to formalise the elected student committee.

A government spokesperson said the local joint mamlatdar, a junior district administration official, had given the college management five days to decide a time and date to hold the inaugural session of the college’s students’ council.

“The elections of the students’ council were held on November 8, 2022. After that, for more than two months, the formal induction of the council members was not conducted. This was not in the interest of the student community since they were unable to participate in any intercollegiate event because of the uninstalled council. The elected student representatives, along with the elected general secretary and students of the college, have been constantly approaching the principal of the college asking for the swearing-in ceremony of the council, but in vain,” according to ABVP Goa spokesperson Nikita Parsekar.

In a statement, the college authorities have slammed the ABVP for unruly activities.

“While the classes were in progress, ABVP members barged in, shouting slogans, trying to incite students to leave their classrooms and join them. The students, however, refused. To ensure the safety of our staff and students, the management asked them to leave the campus,” read a statement issued by the college, which is operated by the Diocesan Society of Education, a body that oversees the functioning of a majority of Catholic educational institutions in the coastal state.

The incident has also sparked a war of words between the ruling BJP and the Congress.

“It is sad that an institution has indulged in discrimination based on religious lines and deprived the students of their rightful activities. ABVP works in the interest of the students, and not there to do politics,” Rupesh Kamat, a BJP leader and the state convenor of the party’s social media cell, said.

“They were trying to infiltrate and promulgate law and order disturbances and probably violence. The teachers were panicky, and the entire staff was worried,” Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira claimed.