During the ongoing controversy over setting up banners for Ganesh Puja festivities, agitating students of Bhadrak Autonomous College prevented principal Durga Sankar Das, police and a magistrate from entering the campus on Tuesday.
The outrage occurred on Monday when a group of students erected a banner that read 'Killer Group' at the college entrance. The inflammatory words caused mass outrage among other students, and they went on to stage protests. College authorities later tore down the banner.
But again, tension erupted when a second group of students erected a second banner with the designation 'Bhadrak Autonomous College'. The second banner's saffron color again became a new issue of rivalry among student groups. Principal Das remarked, "After the initial banner was taken down, another one was erected. I checked it late on Monday evening and did not find anything objectionable on it. So I let it stay.
"I told them to put it somewhere else because one was already standing. But they did not listen and spent the entire night on the campus," he added.
Das visited the college on Tuesday morning in the presence of the IIC of the Bhadrak Town police station and a local magistrate in a bid to act as a mediator between the warring student sides. But the protesting students cut off access to the college entrance, barring their entry.
Bhadrak Town IIC Pravanshu Mishra confirmed the problem remains unsolved. The college continues with its tight security as authorities make attempts to de-escalate tensions.
Unrest in Odisha's Bhadrak college over campus banners
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