Conservative India is told by a Court in Sept 2021 that 'Adults have right to choose their partner, irrespective of religion'

 Adults have right to choose their partner, irrespective of religion: Allahabad High Court

Granting protection to couple, Court say not even parents could object to the relationship

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), September 17

The Allahabad High Court has observed that adults have the right to choose their life partner, irrespective of the religion professed by them.

The court made this observation on Thursday while granting protection to an interfaith couple from Gorakhpur. "In such a case, not even their parents can object to their relationship," the court further observed.

Hearing a petition jointly filed by Shifa Hasan and her Hindu partner, a division bench comprising justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Deepak Verma said, "It cannot be disputed that two adults have the right of choice of their matrimonial partner, irrespective of the religion professed by them." [ . . . ]

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/adults-have-right-to-choose-their-partner-irrespective-of-religion-allahabad-high-court-312511

 

India: The real reason for Allahabad’s rechristening must be sought in the BJP’s sustained campaign to distort history (The Telegraph)

The Telegraph

Improper nouns: The mischief of renaming

The real reason for Allahabad’s rechristening must be sought in the BJP’s sustained campaign to distort history

By The Editorial Board

• Published 19.10.18, 7:46 AM

Activists of the Rashtriya Rakshak Samuh cover a railway station sign that says "Allahabad Junction" with a poster that says "Prayagraj", as the Uttar Pradesh government approves renaming the city ahead of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad on Wednesday PTI Photo

Rechristening can be mischievous business. It is especially so when a politician helms the name change. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, has proposed to change the name of Allahabad, one of India’s most ancient cities steeped in myth and history, to Prayagraj. Mr Adityanath’s proposal, unsurprisingly, has met with his cabinet’s approval, even though the chief minister’s detractors have opposed the move on a number of grounds. For instance, a member of the Samajwadi Party has alleged that this is a ploy on Mr Adityanath’s part to deflect public attention from serious administrative failures. The shocking pollution of the Ganga — the Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to remove the filth as an electoral pledge — patchy preparations for the approaching Ardh Kumbh Mela, a marked deterioration in the law and order situation and sustained polarization — Mr Adityanath and his party allegedly endorse this kind of divisiveness — seem to have soured the public mood. The BJP leader has now thought up a palliative — baptizing Allahabad anew.
The real reason for Allahabad’s renaming must be sought in the BJP’s sustained campaign to distort history. Distortion, in this case, alludes to expungement. The BJP has succeeded in ridding some of India’s public spaces of their mixed legacies. Mughalsarai is now named after an ideologue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; a road in the capital bearing the name of Aurangzeb is known by a new name. The fact that another Mughal emperor had given Allahabad its name could not possibly have sat easily with the proponents of Hindutva who are eager view India’s history through a majoritarian lens. Such a jaundiced vision resists the ideals of syncreticism and pluralism, the tenets that give the Idea of India its remarkably inclusive character. Ironically, over the years, Allahabad — the town is situated at the confluence of sacred rivers — has been held up as an example of a culture that celebrates the harmonious coexistence of multiple ideas and faiths. That must have added to Mr Adityanath’s sense of urgency. It can be argued that merely changing the name of a place is not enough to erase its ancient, diverse traditions. But disturbing transitions often begin with seemingly benign revisions. In that sense, the renaming of Allahabad to Prayagraj should be read as an omen.

A bit of naming history on Allahabad / Prayag, both in Mughal times and more recently

Excerpt from :

Pilgrimage and Power

The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765-1954

Kama Maclean

28 August 2008

360 Pages |
ISBN: 9780195338942

 

India: Allahabad city to be called Prayagraj, says Yogi Adityanath, the UP chief Minister

Allahabad to be called Prayagraj, says Yogi

Allahabad’s ancient name was Prayag. When 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar founded a fort near the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, known as Sangam

By Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow 

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/allahabad-to-be-called-prayagraj-says-yogi/cid/1671818 

 

o o o

Congress opposes renaming of Allahabad to Prayagraj

Congress claimed that the name change would affect the history in which Allahabad has played a significant role since the days of Independence.

By: Express News Service | Lucknow | Updated: October 15, 2018 

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/congress-opposes-renaming-of-allahabad-prayagraj-yogi-adityanath-5401838/ 

India: Graves in the Rajapur cemetery in Allahabad found vandalised

The Quint - 25 March 2017

Christian Cemetery in Allahabad Vandalised, Crosses Destroyed

Akriti Paracer

In Allahabad, graves in the Rajapur cemetery were found vandalised, upsetting the Christian community of the city.
Community members have alleged that delinquents often trespassed the cemetery to drink, gamble and indulge in immoral activities, as Hindustan Times reported.

People have shared photos and videos of the desecrated graves on social media and the Allahabad Heritage Society has appealed to people to come forward to help restore the graves.
FULL TEXT AT: https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/03/25/uttar-pradesh-rajapur-cemetery-vandalised

India: Allahabad's Hindutva thugs cum lawyers attack a JNU solidarity protest with sticks and rods in the name of nationalism

The Wire

Allahabad Lawyers Attack Pro-JNU protest, Women Allegedly Threatened with Rape

By The Wire Staff on 26/02/2016 •

In an incident which bore a stark resemblance to the violence witnessed in the Patiala House Courts in New Delhi on February 15 and 17, a group of about 150 to 200 lawyers attacked a protest demonstration organised by Left parties, their affiliate student organisations and civil society and women rights activists in Allahabad on Thursday.
The attackers allegedly hurled abuses at the women and other protesters and assaulted them with sticks and rods, leaving many of them injured. The protest had been called to demand a fair probe into the Jawaharlal Nehru University incident and Rohith Vemula’s death, and to seek the release of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and other arrested students.

One of the protesters injured by lawyers in Allahabad. Credit: Special Arrangement

As part of the programme, for which prior permission had been taken from the town administration, members of six prominent Left parties – the  Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, CPI (Marxist-Leninist), Socialist Unity Centre of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Block – as also of the Students Federation of India, All India Students Association and All India Democratic Students Organisation, trade union leaders, women rights activists, civil society and academicians –had gathered to submit a memorandum to the president of India through the district magistrate.

However, at around noon, as the protesters began their peaceful gathering near the Allahabad collectorate, a group of 15 to 20 lawyers arrived at the spot and began accusing the assembled people of being pro-Pakistan and anti-national. They shouted “Vande Mataram”, “Go back to Pakistan” and “traitors” at them. Then, according to the district secretary of CPI(M) K.K. Pandey, some of these lawyers phoned their associates and soon about 150 to 200 lawyers gathered at the spot and attacked the protest with sticks and rods.
According to Rama Shanker Singh, a doctoral candidate at GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, one of the trade union leaders, Avinash Mishra, sustained serious head injuries in the attack. Even the women were not spared by the lawyers and two of them, identified as PUCL district secretary Utpala Shukla and Prabha, were also injured. In her complaint to the police, Utpala said the culprits had used offensive and abusive language against the women and even threatened them with rape.
Some other activists, including Jitendra, Ashutosh, Bhim Singh Chandel and K.K. Pandey, also suffered minor injuries.
A complaint was registered at the Colonelganj police station under IPC  sections pertaining to attempt to murder, outraging the modesty of a woman and rioting. Later, a district official also reached the police station and received the memorandum which was to be submitted to the district magistrate.

India: A respected journalist is gagged by goons on a university campus

The Indian Express, Jan 24, 2016

Reverse Swing: My ‘anti-national’ brother
A respected journalist is gagged by goons on a university campus

Written by Tunku Varadarajan

About Author

Tunku Varadarajan is the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover


How free is India? The country boasts of its democracy, often with reason. India’s record of regular elections is enviable, especially when one considers its political and linguistic diversity, the size of its population, and its shameful levels of education. We can all agree that the country gets the formal mechanics of democracy right — against heavy odds.

What India tends to get wrong — sometimes horribly so — are the organic details of democracy, the questions of individual choice and freedom, of tolerance and non-violent co-existence, that separate truly democratic societies from those that fall short. Freedom of speech has never been India’s forte. Public expression is often silenced by groups that disagree with its content and threaten violence in response. They do so secure in the belief that the State will usually hustle the speaker off the podium (literally or metaphorically) to maintain public order, rather than corral and castigate the disruptors of speech.

Also read: Threats to journalist an attack on freedom of expression: Editors Guild

In India, the mob has a veto on speech; and an example of this veto occurred on January 20 at Allahabad University, when bully-boys from the ABVP — the Baby-BJP on campus — forced the cancellation of a speech by my brother, Siddharth Varadarajan, on ‘Democracy, Media and Freedom of Expression’. (Siddharth, editor of The Hindu before being ousted in a squalid internal putsch, is now founding editor of The Wire.)

It’s hard not to chuckle over the irony of a lecture on free speech being silenced by unruly dissenters. One chuckles, also, over the ABVP leaders’ descriptions of leftist Siddharth as ‘anti-national’ and ‘communal’ — the latter because of its incongruity, given the saffron source of the utterance; and the former because of the bizarre phenomenon of hyper-nationalist student protests. Whatever happened to the days when idealistic kids protested against nationalism, not at its behest?

The ABVP’s actions are part of an unlovely trend in which anyone who’s not inclined to paint the rosiest picture of India is deemed unpatriotic. Witness the ideological lynching of Aamir Khan recently, when the actor had the temerity to suggest that all isn’t perfect in this Motherland of ours.

Siddharth had been invited to speak by the Allahabad University Student Union, and while on campus, he was forced to seek shelter in the vice-chancellor’s office for 30 minutes while an ABVP mob raged outside. The Baby BJP-ers weren’t there to debate: “We had planned to paint the faces of Varadarajan and the event organisers and throw shoes and eggs at them. But we decided against it because a physical attack would have given them more publicity. We gheraoed the V-C’s office,” said ABVP vice-president Vikrant Singh, unembarrassed, to this newspaper.
Also read: ABVP gheraos V-C’s office, cops escort journalist Siddharth Varadarajan out of Allahabad University campus

“I was taken aback,” Siddharth told me, “when the thick-set mustachioed university security guards implored me not to try to leave the V-C’s office by myself, saying the ABVP guys are capable of anything — ‘Kuchh bhi kar sakte hain’ —and that they would not be able to guarantee my safety.” So he was a hostage.

There is another irony here, as Siddharth points out to me. Arun Jaitley, India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister, is a former ABVP leader. “I am surprised,” Siddharth said, “at his silence over the hounding of a journalist, an editor — someone he used to have no hesitation calling when he was in the Opposition in order to understand arguments I was making, for example, on the need for a tougher nuclear liability law.”

I await Mr Jaitley’s response — as Information Minister — and his reaction to the mob-censorship of his erstwhile student party.

The writer is the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He tweets @tunkuv
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/reverse-swing-my-anti-national-brother/

India: Senior Journalist Siddharth Varadarajan not allow to speak on Allahabad university campus and held hostage by RSS student wing the ABVP

The Times of India

Siddharth Varadarajan held hostage in Allahabad at VC's office by ABVP
Rajeev Mani | TNN | Jan 20, 2016, 05.54 PM IST

ALLAHABAD: Senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan along with Allahabad University student union president Richa Singh was held hostage for around half an hour inside the office of AU VC, RL Hangloo when the senior journalist went to meet the VC at his office on Wednesday. This was after ABVP members and office bearers of AU student union started protesting against his entering the varsity campus and forced him to stay inside only to allow his access to leave the campus after intervention of police.

Earlier, Varadarajan was not allowed to address the symposium at Senate hall of the Arts campus as the AU authorities had withdrawn the permission for holding the symposium at the said venue. The permission was withdrawn following the protest by the four office bearers of AU student union who were of the opinion that Varadarajan is pro-naxal and his ideas are anti-nationalist.

Following the denial for the event, Varadarajan spoke Swaraj Bhawan, a venue outside the varsity campus.

However, after addressing around 100 students at the venue, he along with the union president arrived at the VC office to meet him. But, by the time he was meeting Prof Hangloo, large number of ABVP members along with the four office bearers of the student union, arrived at the portico of the VC's office and started shouting against the senior journalist and the varsity administration.

Because of the unrest and chaos outside the VC's office, Varadarajan was unable to leave the office of the VC for around half an hour.

Soon police was called in and the varsity proctor too spoke to the agitating members who allowed Varadarajan exit from the campus terming that he should not be given so much of importance. Under security cover by the police, the journalist managed to leave the campus and headed for his meeting with the officials of IIIT-A.

Varadarajan, while speaking to TOI termed the incident as very unfortunate.

Member of ABVP, Yashwant Singh Rana said, "this journalist is pro-naxal and speaks language of anti-nationals so he should not be allowed to speak or enter AU campus. If Yogi Adityanath was not allowed to enter or speak inside the varsity campus, why is this journalist allowed to enter the campus".

India - Allahabad university: Union president invites prominent journalist to campus, ABVP on hunger strike

The Indian Express

Allahabad university: Union president invites journalist to campus, ABVP on hunger strike
The ABVP leaders, who hold significant posts in the union, sat on an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday outside the residence of AU Vice-Chancellor R L Hangloo demanding cancellation of the seminar.
Written by Lalmani Verma
Lucknow
Updated: Jan 20, 2016, 10:28

Written by Lalmani Verma | Lucknow | Updated: January 20, 2016 10:28 am

THE ONGOING tussle between Allahabad University Students’ Union (AUSU) president Richa Singh and RSS’ student wing ABVP have led to fresh trouble on the campus. Richa has invited senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan as chief speaker for a national seminar being held on the campus on Wednesday.

The ABVP leaders, who hold significant posts in the union, sat on an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday outside the residence of AU Vice-Chancellor R L Hangloo demanding cancellation of the seminar.

The seminar, on ‘Democracy, media and freedom of expression’, would be presided over by Hangloo.

Late Tuesday, Richa sent an email to the President, the Prime Minister and Union HRD minister, informing them that if any untoward incident happened on Wednesday, then ABVP members of the student union would be responsible for the same.

She claimed there was imminent danger that the student leaders would attack her, other organisers of the event and the speaker.

“Most shocking is the role of the vice-chancellor, who has refused to take responsibility of our security… He has forced me to write a letter that I am conducting this event at my own risk and whatever happens tomorrow is not his responsibility,” Richa added, seeking that the HRD Ministry directs the V-C to ensure security on the campus.

Earlier in the day, ABVP leader and AUSU vice-president Vikrant Singh said, “There are two reasons behind our protest. First, the union president did not consult us before planning the event. Secondly, Siddharth Varadarajan is a controversial man, who used to write pro-naxal and anti-national articles. Richa has invited a person who has a communal mindset while she herself had earlier opposed campus visit of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath last year, calling him communal.”

Richa, however, maintained that Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, is a noted and unbiased journalist and ABVP leaders should read his articles before objecting. “ABVP leaders are opposing the seminar only to settle scores as she had opposed Yogi Adityanath’s visit to the campus last November,” she said, adding that she did not discuss preparations for the event with other union members because “they too hold several events on campus without consulting her”.

Claiming that she was being targeted by ABVP members of the union for being a girl, Richa said: “ABVP members are targeting me because they cannot tolerate a girl as president. They create obstacles and make sexist remarks. A girl was elected after 128 years… they want to create an atmosphere where no girl can dare to contest in future.”

She further alleged that AU administration was intolerant towards women and not concerned about their safety. “I have moved a proposal for installing CCTV cameras on campus. But ABVP members are opposing the proposal and the AU administration is sitting on the proposal,” she claimed.

Richa added that the university has not taken action against AUSU general secretary Siddharth Singh and vice president Vikrant for allegedly assaulting her on November 19 despite an FIR being lodged. Vikrant, however, alleged that Richa was taking the “advantage of being a woman”.

AU Proctor Dr N K Shukla said, “Union members often organise events on campus and our job is to maintain law and order and peaceful academic atmosphere… We are keeping a watch on the situation, as the union members are sitting on hunger strike. No decision has been taken on their demands so far.” The proctor also denied allegations of intolerance against women on campus.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/allahabad-university-union-president-invites-journalist-to-campus-abvp-on-hunger-strike/

India: ABVP students attack President of Allahabad University Students’ Union (AUSU) who has been protesting controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath to the university

First women President of Allahabad University Students’ Union (AUSU) attacked by ABVP students

November 23, 2015
22nd November 2015, Allahabad:
In a shocking incident at Allahabad University on late Thursday night, students belonging to the BJP’s youth wing ABVP physically attacked, harassed and intimidated Richa Singh, the president of the students union and other students including women. The incident took place during a peaceful hunger strike that was being led by Richa. The strike was in protest of the impending visit of controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath to the university.“We were attacked at 2am by the General Secretary Siddharth Singh alias Golu, and Vice President Vikrant Singh of the Students Union along with dozens of other lumpen elements in the presence of the Proctor of the University. When we appealed to the Proctor to intervene, he simply refused to cooperate and failed to stop the attackers.” said Richa.

Following the incident, an atmosphere of fear has gripped the university campus and the city. Women students in particular say they are feel vulnerable. Richa states, “I have been receiving repeated death threats since the incident. If I, the women president of the Students’ body, feel unsafe, one can only imagine the plight of other women students. The administration is refusing to provide us adequate security.”

Earliar in September 2015 Richa Singh made history when she was elected to the post of Students Union President as an independent candidate, becoming the first woman to hold the post since Independence. The remaining four members of the Students Union are from the ABVP. Richa and 50 other students were staging a peaceful hunger strike to protest the invitation extended to Mr Yogi Adityanath. The BJP MP from Gorakhpur, who has recently been in the news for making communal statements, had been invited by the ABVP students without Richa’s consent to inaugurate and felicitate the newly elected union on 20th November. This is in blatant violation of the AUSU’s constitution. Mr Adityanath was later not allowed to enter the university as the requisite permission from the district administration had not been taken either.

source: http://www.aapkatimes.com/first-women-president-of-allahabad-university-students-union-ausuattacked-by-abvp-students/

India: How Students Protest in Allahabad University Scuttled Yogi Adityanath's Talk at the University (subhash gatade)

Davids Versus Goliath! How Yogi Adityanath had to 'Go Back ' to .....(err not Pakistan but) Gorakhpur
-subhash gatade

The Pandal was ready.

The Sainiks with their saffron bandanas - who were scattered here and there - were eagerly waiting to listen to another fiery call from their Senapati.

Time was already running out but the 'Star Speaker' was nowhere to be seen.

Little did they knew that their Senapati had already made an about turn and was headed back home as the district administration had 'advised' him against entering the district and was told that he would face 'legal action if he dares to do so.'

For Yogi Adityanath, the firebrand MP of BJP, who is widely known for his controversial statements as well as acts and who every other day asks dissenters to 'go to Pakistan' , it was his comeuppance moment when he was rather forced to 'go back' to Gorakhpur. And all his plans to be the star speaker at the inaugural function of Students Union of Allahabad University - once called 'Oxford of the East' - lay shattered.

The Saffron Parivar had made elaborate preparations for Yogi's welcome to the city taking advantage of the fact that its student wing - namely Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad - had bagged four seats in the elections held for the Student Union. Excepting the President, rest of the posts had gone to their candidates and they felt that for them it was a golden opportunity to generate conversation around their politics which would further polarise the people in this part of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Perhaps then they could raise their off repeated slogan at a higher pitch 'Purvanchal Me Rehna Hoga, To Yogi-Yogi Kehna Hoga' ( If you want to live in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, You will have to say Yogi-Yogi)

The only 'hindrance' to their well thought out plan was the President of the Union - a student leader named Richa Singh, the first female President in the 128 year old history of the University - who had won on an independent platform duly supported by various left and democratic forces. The university rules mandated that without the consent of the President no such inauguration of the students union can take place and she resisted their proposal to invite Yogi.

In an interview to Indian Express (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/ausu-president-says-wont-let-adityanath-enter-allahabad-university-campus/) she made her stand clear :

“Yogi Adiyanath is a controversial leader who speaks on communal lines against Muslims. Here we have Muslim students too in the university. If any riot-like situation occurred after his speech on the campus, who will be responsible? ABVP members invited Adityanath without consulting me and that is against the AUSU (Allahabad University Students Union) constitution,” She said any educationist or Union minister was supposed to be invited to the event as “Adityanath has no contribution in the field of education”.

Her simple proposal - 'An Appeal to Students' - which received wide publicity made a point that instead of inviting a 'controversial' person like Yogi which would vitiate the atmosphere further and would impact the composite heitage of the region in negative ways and would further push back struggles for student rights it is better to invite someone - like President of India, Chief Justice, renowned educationist, scientist or literary figure - who would inspire the whole student community.

As expected the rest of the office bearers of the Union did not agree to it and with due help from a compliant University administration (see the postscript for further details)- which is running without a proper vice chancellor for some time - managed to get an official declaration that Yogi Adityanath would come to inaugurate the Students Union on 20 th November. Infuriated by this unilateral decision of the University administration - which clearly violated the Constitution of the Institution - a campaign was launched in the university and the city to stop Yogi from reaching Allahabad and inaugurate the Union. It was interesting that it received support from different sections of society, not only rest of the political parties - except offcourse BJP - issued statements and came out in support but lawyers, teachers, trade unions and other sections of the civil society also came forward to oppose this invite.

Looking at the fact that the university administration was adamant about its unilateral decision, Richa alongwith her other comrades launched an indefinite hunger strike in University campus. Hundreds of students and like minded teachers joined the Dharna (sit in) and raised voice of solidarity. In a preplanned move the sit-in came under attack in the night of 18 th November where saffron goons allegedly led by one of the office bearers attacked them, Richa and other comrades were badly thrashed, vulgar slogans were raised against the girl students and the attackers even did not spare some senior teachers and civil society activists like Padma Singh who had joined the sit-in. The most disturbing part of the whole episode was that the police remained a mute spectator of this attack.

This attack raised such a furore that the district administration decided to bar Yogi from entering the city and sent him the order 'requesting' him to comply with the decision. As expected the members of the Saffron Parivar tried to raise lot of hue and cry over this decision but they could not do anything about it.

Yogi Adityanath, the 'Lion of Purvanchal' - in the eyes of the Saffron Parivar - stood tamed, at least for the moment.

The Programme stood cancelled.

The Pandal was removed.

Spirited resistance by students once again demonstrated the oft repeated slogan ' Students United Shall Always Be Victorious'



Post Script :

As we write these lines news has come in that the district administration has written a strong letter to Ms Smriti Irani, Minister for Human Resources Development protesting the 'callous attitude of the University administration which had created a law and order situation in the city.' In his strongly worded letter the District Majistrate said that 'despite strong voices of opposition raised by students, teachers and other members of the civil society the Univesity administration gave permission for the said programme and did not even bother to contact the district administration when situation seemed to be going out of control' He has asked for 'exemplary action against the University officials' ( Ref : 'Hindustan' 21 st November 2015, Allahabad Edition)

In pictures: Allahabad University students protest to stop Yogi Adityanath from entering the campus

scroll.in

In pictures: Allahabad University students protest to stop Yogi Adityanath from entering the campus
The BJP MP from Gorakhpur was to inaugurate a new building in Allahabad University on the invitation BJP's students wing but the president of the union called for protests.
Mayank Jain - 19 Nov 2015


In pictures: Allahabad University students protest to stop Yogi Adityanath from entering the campus
Photo Credit: Shehla Rashid

Yogi Adityanath, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, is no stranger to controversy and finds himself in yet another tangle. The firebrand leader was scheduled to inaugurate a new building in Allahabad University on November 20 but protests erupted on Thursday morning, led by a section of students who have vowed to not let the “controversial and communal” politician enter the campus.

The students’ union at the university is dominated by three members from the BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad who got invitation cards printed and were also reportedly at the forefront of organising the programme. The newly elected president Richa Singh, who contested independently, distanced herself from the event and called for protests.

Singh, the first woman to be elected president of the university’s student union in its 128-year-long history, has raised objection against the fact that the invitations carried her name, implying her support.

“Yogi Adiyanath is a controversial leader who speaks on communal lines against Muslims,” she told the Indian Express. “Here we have Muslim students too in the university. If any riot-like situation occurred after his speech on the campus, who will be responsible? The ABVP members invited Adityanath without consulting me and that is against the AUSU [Allahabad University Students Union] constitution,” she added.

On Thursday, students wore black bands covering their mouth and demonstrated inside as well as outside the campus to protest against the controversial leader.

“Yogi Adityanath, Go Back!!” screamed a placard carried by a student with black band across his mouth, apparently to signify the resistance against the communally charged speeches that the politician has recently dominated the headlines for.

In June this year, Adityanath declared that those who opposed Yoga could leave the country and drown themselves in the sea. More recently, he compared film actor Shahrukh Khan to Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed and said the actor's statements on rising intolerance in India amounted to treason.

Divided camps

Even as the university stands divided on the issue, intervention by the authorities didn’t prove useful. A meeting called by the Vice Chancellor A Satyanarayana saw heated arguments from both camps as the ABVP representatives insisted that the program will go on as planned at the convocation grounds near the Arts faculty of the university.

Vikrant Singh, the student union vice-president, told the Indian Express that Richa Singh "follows an opposite ideology, like that of the of SFI (Students’ Federation of India) and AISA (All India Students Association)." Charging her of not having attended any of the meetings related to the event, he added: "She only attended the Monday meeting that was called by the vice-chancellor to finalise the venue of event. The event will be organised as per schedule on grand scale at the convocation ground.”

Meanwhile, Sunil Maurya, president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of All India Students' Association, which is leading the protest along with other student outfits at the university, said that the protests against Adityanath's visit will continue.

"A person who was barred by the Election Commission from entering Uttar Pradesh should not be called to a university," he said. "He has personally supervised riots. His image does not befit a university. A university stands for universal values and humanism and we will do whatever it takes to uphold these values."

Here’s a look at some of the pictures of the protests:

India: VHP Wants Akbar's Fort in Allahabad to Be Replaced With Night Shelter

http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/VHP-Wants-Akbars-Fort-in-Allahabad-to-Be-Replaced-With-Night-Shelter/880593

Photo of Hindutva propaganda billboard in Hindi at the 2013 Maha Kumbh Mela

Hindutva propaganda billboard at the Kumb Mela about Hindu Religion being in Danger; And that family planning is being imposed on them
Photo taken at Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad in 2013.