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ShareMumbai: Activists of the student wing of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) went on a rampage at the office of Mumbai University registrar in Fort on Tuesday against a circular making Marathi and other regional languages optional for first-year arts students who have migrated from other states, including NRIs.
The vandalism at the varsity came a day after MNS activists attacked a Bhojpuri music show organised by north Indians in Nashik on Monday.
Though students have welcomed the university's decision to make regional languages optional, it hasn't gone down well with MNS's Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS). Its activists barged into the registrar K Venkataramani's first floor cabin and broke window panes and damaged office property. Venkataramani was not in his cabin at the time of the incident.
The police have arrested six activists of the MNS's student wing.
Activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena, the student wing of MNS, vandalised the office of Mumbai University's registrar in Fort on Tuesday. They were protesting against the varsity circular making Marathi optional for first year arts students who have mirgrated from outside Maharashtra.
The Azad Maidan police have arrested six MNVS activists, including its president Aditya Shirodkar. Deputy commissioner of police Vishwas Nangre-Patil said the MNVS workers had been booked for damaging public property.
Reacting to the incident, chief minister Ashok Chavan said such vandalism would not be tolerated. "We will punish those who indulge in such acts," he said.
Natasha Menon, an economics student, was furious. "Students today need as many options as possible to study. They will be more than happy to have such an option with the languages. They genuinely want to study. Have the people who vandalised the university bothered to check what students want?"
Menon said such attacks would only instil fear in students. Students aren't "interested in such political gimmicks". "These people only try to create disharmony to gain political mileage," she said.
A university official also justified the circular saying that it would help students who didn't opt for a regional language in standard XII. "The decision to make regional language optional was taken in the meeting of the board of studies, where the faculty of arts was also present. It is not an individual opinion," he said.
Pro vice-chancellor AD Sawant said, "We will have to look into the matter and find out whose mistake it was. The police have taken action; the university will decide its course of action soon after analysing the situation."
The political implications the circular were brought to the university administration's notice by the Shiv Sena senate members. MNS, however, managed to hijack another issue from Sena.
MNVS vice-president Chetan Pednekar claimed the attack was not pre-planned though. "We had gone to the university to give a memorandum, demanding that the circular be revoked. But the university staff didn't let us meet Venkataramani. There was a little argument; our workers got angry and they vandalised the university property," he said.
Party's university wing chief Sairaj Durge said the circular was not the only issue. "We have repeatedly demanded removal of encroachments on the university campus in Kalina. We wanted to bring the administration's attention to encroachments again," he said.
