Presidency University expelled a student for allegedly defacing a Vivekananda poster

KOLKATA

Presidency University has expelled two students for allegedly defacing posters of Swami Vivekananda inside the campus, official sources said. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad alleged that left-wing student factions vandalized the poster and filed a police complaint on 14 October.

Both students were banned from taking any course at the university in future. The university formed a committee to investigate the matter, reviewed the campus CCTV footage and heard from various stakeholders to arrive at a decision. One of them is a current student and the other is a former student who finished her graduate studies a few months ago.

“Two students have been suspended from student/post-graduate academic activities. It has also been decided that they will not be allowed admission to any future degree program in this university,” official sources said.

“Presidency University has always stood for dignified academic discourse and debate on various scientific/socio-political issues. The University is not in a position to tolerate any abuse of any thinkers/ideas/organizations,” Presidency University Registrar Debajyoti Konar said.

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) condemned the expulsion on Saturday (November 7, 2026). “By imposing an expulsion that threatens to destroy the academic lives of these two students, the administration has set a deeply dangerous precedent,” added a statement from the SFI Presidency. They also said students must be punished if they were involved in the vandalism, but asked for corrective measures and rehabilitation, rather than punitive or retaliatory measures.

Meanwhile, ABVP’s student wing welcomed the expulsion and said such “anti-India” sentiments and anti-national conspiracies have no place in educational institutions.

“If such incidents are repeated in future, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will again stand firm against them. Our message is clear: ABVP has the only vaccine capable of eliminating the Chinese virus of anti-national ideology,” Ananta Barui, head of state media, ABVP, told The Hindu on Saturday (November 20267).

ABVP’s student wing had earlier alleged that the left wing students were vandalizing their posters. However, the left student wings of the presidency issued a statement denying the allegations.

“ABVP has started the work to clean the Tukde-Tukde gang from Jadavpur and the Presidency. They must continue this work,” Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said.

This comes as both Jadavpur University and Presidency University, two of the premier educational institutes of the state, have remained embroiled in repeated disputes and clashes with the right-wing student group. In August, a massive fight broke out at JU when left-wing and right-wing student groups clashed.

Published – 8 Nov 2026 03:38 IST