JU row: CM targets 'tukde tukde’ gangs, says Vande Mataram non-negotiable
Times of India | 23 August 2026
Kolkata: More than two days after ruckus broke out at Jadavpur University campus with ABVP storming the campus after Thursday midnight and clashing with left student unions the same afternoon, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday said the path for “nationalism” will be paved in the university now. He alleged that jihadis and ‘tukde tukde’ gangs in Jadavpur University don’t even allow chanting Vande Mataram.
“However much a section tries, we will set the stage for nationalism inside the JU and outside it. This govt has come with a promise to fulfil Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s dreams. We will establish Sanatani culture here,” Adhikari said at a programme in Bhowanipore’s Northern Park.
“Tukde tukde gangs, who are anti-nationals and jihadis, are inside Jadavpur University. They don’t even allow chanting Vande Mataram or hoist the National Flag inside JU. If you want to stay in this state, you will have to sing Vande Mataram. The CM of this state will not make any compromise with nationalism and patriotism. I will ensure that the lips of those who are shouting Kashmir Mange Azadi, are sealed,” he said.
“We will not allow anyone to compromise with Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rishi Bankim Chandra, National Flag or Vande Mataram. We will not compromise with Maa Kali, Dakshineswar temple or Tarakeswar Dham,” he warned.
The CM also said even the state education department did not have access to the university that opposed installation of CCTV on the campus.
Earlier in the day, state minister Dilip Ghosh had remarked that the change in the state was affecting JU. “Those inside the campus tend to think that the university is beyond Indian Constitution and Constitutional machineries. Even Jawaharlal Nehru University was not immune to changes. This cannot continue for long,” Ghosh said.
Alleging that “those who operate these forces” have their last frontier at JU, he insisted, “changing that (culture) might take some time, but we will change that.”
Industries minister Tapas Roy, who has a long history of students’ politics in the state, said that JU has a past of witnessing student unrest. “JU is influenced by the left and ultra-left organisations. But it is important that political parties keep the university campus unaffected.”
However, state municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul took a conciliatory stance and remarked that damage caused to the emblem of the institution cannot be accepted. “They can be affiliated to any political outfit. Politics shouldn’t make way inside the university campus. Unlike the Left or Trinamool regime, we don’t have partisan people running the education system. We don’t support it even if any party member follows that,” she said.