Karnataka’s Bangalore University (BU) staff and students staged a protest against the construction of a temple on the Jnana Bharathi campus on Thursday, September 8. The students alleged that the BJP government was trying to saffronise the university campus by allowing the construction of a Ganesha temple inside the campus.
The students protested on Wednesday as well against the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's construction of the temple. The issue took a serious turn when the university officials filed a police complaint against the protesting students. The students claimed that the University Grants commission (UGC) regulations and laws forbade the building of sites of religious worship like mosques, churches, and temples in public spaces.
According to BU officials, the temple, which had previously been located somewhere else on campus, was allegedly being moved, and a structure was being built behind the administrative office. The students alleged that the BBMP officials did not secure a permit from the Vice-approval Chancellor for the task, the Hindu reported.
The decision to build the temple, according to Dr. Jayakara Shetty, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, was taken earlier and not during his administration. “The students can't object to the temple issue because the choice was already made and construction has already begun,” he stated. In response to student protests, Shetty gave the order to halt the temple's construction. When the construction work didn't stop, he went to the site and ordered it to stop.
The students and organisations, including Naija Horatagaarara Vedike, Post-Graduation and Research Students' Federation, have warned the university officials that if they continued with the construction of the temple, they would file a police complaint against them.