AISF, ABVP clash in Bihar over Kanhaiya’s arrest

Patna, Feb 18 (IANS) Activists of the All India Students Federation (AISF) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) clashed here on Thursday over the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, police said.

A group of Communist Party of India-affiliated AISF, to which Kanhaiya Kumar belongs, along with the student wing of Bihar's ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), took out march to protest Kanhaiya's arrest on sedition charge.

Kanhaiya is accused of raising anti-national slogans at an event on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi last week, a charge he has denied.

The clashes erupted on Thursday when the group reached the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office and raised slogans against the party and ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for attacking Kanhaiya in court premises in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"Clashes took place between AISF and ABVP activists," a police official said.

Police resorted to lathicharge to bring the situation under control.