Published On : Tue, Mar 8th, 2016

Rift within ABVP as Vice President of JNU unit will burn Manusmriti copy today

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New Delhi/Nagpur:
The rift between members of the right wing students’ organisation ABVP over the Manusmriti, the ancient text that outlines the laws of India’s caste system and the status of women in society, widened on 7 March when the vice president of the ABVP’s JNU unit announced that he would burn a copy of the text on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

“We will symbolically burn the Manusmriti to protest against what it says on Dalits and women,” said Jatin Goraya, a final-year bachelor’s student of Russian studies.

Members of the ABVP at JNU have exhibited signs of disunity since three office bearers resigned over what they called “the oppression unleashed by the government” on students of the university ever since the Delhi Police charged six students including JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar with sedition. The suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University in January also contributed to the divergence of opinion among ABVP members on the Manusmriti, according to The Telegraph.

While Goraya is uncertain if he will resign too, he said: “We have an ideological difference on the Manusmriti with the ABVP…. They were not of the opinion that we should burn it.”

This may lead to his expulsion from the organisation.