12 EFLU students detained during protest against RSS leader's campus talk

Twelve students, including six members of the Student Union at Hyderabad's English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), were placed under preventive detention on Wednesday, September 30, while protesting against a talk by Telangana RSS prant pracharak Lingam Sridhar at the university.

A Student Union member told media organisations that the students decided to protest after the EFLU administration declined to withdraw permission for the programme. The protest was organised by a student union comprising groups including the Fraternity Movement and the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) against the event organised by the Bhagat Singh Youth Club on the campus. 

The programme, titled "Yuva Sankalp: Empowering Youth for Nation Building", was scheduled from 4:30 pm to 7 pm. Professor Satyabhan Singh Rajput, head of the Department of Russian Studies, Vivekananda Youth Forum member Vinit Vaddepally and Telangana RSS prant pracharak Lingam Sridhar were scheduled to address the event.

At around 5 pm, police detained the 12 students and took them to Osmania University police station after they protested against the programme. The event continued as scheduled following their detention.

In a statement, the Student Union said the protest was against allowing an RSS leader to address students on campus under the banner of what it described as an RSS-linked organisation, the Bhagat Singh Youth Club.

The union alleged that the university administration had continued to deny permission for programmes involving academicians, human rights activists and student leaders while allowing RSS leaders to hold events on campus. It described the move as part of an alleged attempt to "saffronise" education.

The detained students were released a few hours later.