Fergusson College row: Shiv Sena questions leniency showed by police towards ABVP members

Shiv Sena questioned Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday over the "leniency" shown by police towards violence by ABVP members in Pune's Fergusson College, saying he should clarify if separate yardsticks are being used by the law enforcement agency.

"Those who indulge in violence at Fergusson are allowed to go scott free, while Shiv Sena workers who protested against a 'BJP woman' for her anti-Maharashtra remarks are sent to jail," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.

Fadnavis also holds Home portfolio in the state.

"Cases of rioting and robbery were slapped against these (Sena) activists. For this, the Home Minister was pulling the strings," the Sena said.

However, the same charges were not applied against those indulging in violence on the Fergusson campus, it said.

"If separate legislation has come into existence for every political party in the state, then the CM should tell us so. If the winds of vested political interests started blowing in the education campus, what else remains," the BJP ally said.

"A game of 'one state, two laws' is being played and this is a dangerous thing," the editorial read.

The college principal is doubtful if "anti-national" slogans were raised on the campus during the heated exchange between members of ABVP and a group of Ambedkarite students during an informal event organised on Tuesday, it said.

ABVP activists and some students from the Left organisations had heated arguments during an "informal" discussion organised by the ABVP on 'Truth of JNU' at the Fergusson College campus on March 22.