‘Nobody can question our love for country’: SFI responds to Bengal CM’s Jadavpur remarks

PTI, August 23, 2026, Kolkata: The SFI's Jadavpur University (JU) unit on Sunday asserted that nobody could question the students' love for the country, a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari alleged the presence of "tukde-tukde" gang and the "raising of pro-azaadi slogans" on the campus.

Adhikari, while addressing Annapurna Bhandar beneficiaries in his Bhabanipur constituency, had on Saturday alleged that Vande Mataram is not sung on the campus, the national flag is not hoisted, Education Department officials are prevented from entering it and CCTV cameras are not allowed to be installed.

Amid recent clashes between Left students and RSS-affiliated ABVP workers on the campus, the CM asserted that his government would promote nationalism on the JU campus and beyond, and that if one wanted to reside in West Bengal, he or she would have to sing the national song.

The JU unit of SFI, the students' wing of CPI(M), said in an open letter to the CM, "We strongly oppose this mindset. You (CM) said the national flag is not hoisted in Jadavpur University. It appears you are being fed wrong information."

"You also claimed that CCTV cameras are not installed... but the incidents of August 19 night (ABVP-Left clash), when outsiders entered the campus, vandalised it and set fires, have been captured on CCTV cameras. Do you still want to claim that all of this is false? We hope you will answer," it said.

On the CM's claim about the presence of "anti-national elements" on the campus, the Students' Federation of India (SFI) said that there may be ideological differences between various student organisations, but when it comes to love for the country, there is no disagreement and there has been no difference.