Agra: National Students’ Union of India ( NSUI ) on Tuesday afternoon staged a protest against Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University administration for running what they alleged was a saffronisation campaign. Protesting students raised slogans against vice chancellor (VC) Arvind Kumar Dixit and later lay on the ground in front of the VC’s convoy when he was about to leave his office at the Paliwal Park campus. The protesters also alleged that they were dragged away by police and beaten up by the VC’s guards. The agitators demanded a meeting with the VC to hand over a memorandum seeking reasons for changing the colour of the marksheet from sky-blue to saffron. Police arrested a student, Gaurav Sharma, who was later released after he gave a written apology to the varsity officials. Chief proctor of the varsity Manoj Srivastava received injuries in his right hand during the incident.The students also protested against the arrangement of saffron-coloured chairs that have been kept for the unveiling ceremony of the 12-feet-tall statue of Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya at the Paliwal Park campus on September 25. Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Naik, who is also the chancellor of Agra varsity, along with chief minister Yogi Adityanath, will unveil the statue of Upadhyay, a former student of the university.Raising slogans against the university administration, protesters alleged that the VC is a “right-wing agent” and interested in “appeasing the ruling party than looking after the upkeep of the university”.NSUI district president Deepak Sharma said, “We were staging a peaceful protest and demanded to meet the VC to handover a memorandum seeking reasons for sudden change in the colour of marksheets. Our demand was not met. Protesters were badly abused and beaten up by the guards of VC. This was a desperate attempt of the university administration to suppress the voices of students. We will continue to protest against saffronisation campaign at the varsity.” Former students’ union president of Agra university , Gaurav Sharma, said, “Thousands of students are still waiting for their flawed marksheets to be corrected. But the university administration is only interested in incorporating the politically-right colour to marksheets.” “Students raising questions were humiliated and beaten up. Our protest against the VC’s saffronisation campaign will be intensified,” he added.Chief proctor Srivastava said, “The protests were mainly aimed at disturbing preparations for the unveiling ceremony of Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya’s statue. The VC directed me to talk to the protesters and take the memorandum from them. But the agitators refused to cooperate. They stopped the VC’s car and made indecent comments against him.”

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