Presidency University has expelled two female students over the alleged defacement of a poster featuring Swami Vivekananda, while Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari backed an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) campaign targeting alleged anti-national activities at the institution and Jadavpur University.
The university’s decision followed an inquiry committee’s examination of CCTV footage and consultations with stakeholders, a university official said on Saturday. The students have been barred from participating in further academic activities and will not be eligible for admission to any future degree programme at Presidency University. Their identities have not been disclosed.
The controversy began after ABVP alleged that a poster carrying Vivekananda’s photograph, installed on the campus on October 13, had been defaced with abusive remarks. The organisation filed a police complaint seeking an impartial investigation and action against those responsible, and later held a protest outside the university gate.
The Left-affiliated Students’ Federation of India denied involvement in the incident. In a statement cited in the report, the organisation condemned the alleged defacement but said that no Left organisation had initiated or participated in an act insulting Vivekananda.
Adhikari addressed the issue while speaking at the inauguration of a Kali Puja pandal in Kolkata’s Maniktala. He congratulated ABVP workers for what he described as an effort to “clean” Presidency and Jadavpur universities of groups allegedly raising slogans such as “Kashmir maange azaadi” and promoting anti-national sentiments.
The chief minister urged ABVP workers to continue the campaign and offered to supply bleaching powder and phenyl for what he called the proposed “clean-up” operation. He also used derogatory terms for those he alleged were involved in such activities. The remarks place an ongoing university disciplinary matter within a wider political contest over nationalism, campus expression and the role of student organisations in public universities.
Adhikari also criticised former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over a 2025 incident involving the removal of a Kali idol in a police vehicle during her tenure. He alleged that the action had taken place on her instructions and referred to a separate incident involving Banerjee in Delhi during Mahalaya this year.
Separately, the chief minister appealed to residents to use earthen lamps during the festival of lights, saying that the practice would support traditional potters and artisans. The immediate institutional action at Presidency University remains the expulsion of the two students following the inquiry into the poster-defacement allegation. The police complaint filed by ABVP and any further action arising from it remain part of the continuing dispute.
