SFI invites Aishe Ghosh to JU on Feb 14, varsity says no

The Students' Federation of India on Monday said it has invited Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh to take part in an anti-CAA rally on February 14 and she has accepted it.

The invitation was sent to her by the SFI's Jadavpur University unit, JU Arts Faculty Students' Union leader Imraj Hasan told PTI.

Ghosh will also campaign for SFI candidates for students' union polls in the JU to be held on February 19, said Hasan.

The university authorities said they were not yet officially intimated about the JNUSU programme.

"Attack on anti-CAA protesters are increasing all over the county. University campuses were also not spared. We had been planning to bring someone like Aishe Ghosh who had become synonymous with anti-fascism protests to inspire students," said Hasan, also an SFI leader.

Ghosh had suffered head injuries during the violence at the JNU on the night of January 5 as a group of masked people armed with sticks attacked students and teachers, besides damaging property on the campus.

"What better occasion to invite Aishe Ghosh than the students union poll campaign where right-wing forces like the ABVP are trying to infiltrate," Hasan said.

RSS-affiliated ABVP has for the first time fielded candidates for February 19 students' union polls in the JU, known to be a hotbed of Left-wing politics.

Besides the ABVP and the SFI which is the students' wing of the CPI(M), the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad and others are in the fray for the students' union polls to be held after a gap of three years.

SFI leader Ushashi Paul said the organisation is yet to inform the JU authorities about Ghosh's programme.

When asked, JU Registrar Snehamanju Basu said, "We have not been formally approached by anyone regarding any programme of Aishe Ghosh. We will decide after considering all angles after we get a formal intimation considering all circumstances."

After Union minister Babul Supriyo was gheraoed by students on September 19 last year when he came to the JU to attend an ABVP programme, the authorities had said rules for holding a programme in the university would be stricter.