Presidency University expels student for allegedly defacing Vivekananda poster

KOLKATA

The Presidency University has expelled two students for allegedly defacing Swami Vivekananda posters inside the campus, official sources said. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had alleged that Left student factions had vandalised the poster and had filed a police complaint on October 14. 

The two female students have been barred from taking admission in any course at the university in the future. The university had formed a committee to investigate the matter and has checked CCTV footage of the campus and heard from various stakeholders to come to a decision. One of them is a current student and the other was an ex-student who had finished her post-graduate course a few months back. 

“Two students have been expelled from the studentship/post-studentship academic activities. It has also been decided that they won’t be allowed admission to any future degree program in this university,” official sources said. 

“Presidency University always stood for dignified academic discourse and debate on different scientific/socio-political issues. The university is not in a position to tolerate any abuse to any thinkers/ideas/organizations,” Presidency University registrar Debajyoti Konar said.

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) condemned the expulsion on Saturday (November 7, 2026). “By imposing an expulsion that threatens to destroy the academic lives of these two students, the administration has established a deeply dangerous precedent,” their statement from the SFI Presidency unit added. They also said that students must be punished if they took part in vandalism, but asked for corrective steps and rehabilitation, rather than punitive or retaliatory measures.

Meanwhile, the ABVP student wing welcomed the expulsion and said that such “anti-India” sentiments and anti-national conspiracies do not have a place in the educational institutes.

“If such incidents are repeated in the future, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will once again stand firmly against them. Our message is clear: ABVP possesses the only vaccine capable of eliminating the Chinese virus of anti-national ideology,” Ananta Barui, State Media In-charge, ABVP told The Hindu on Saturday (November 7, 2026).

The ABVP student wing had previously alleged that the Left student wings were conducting the vandalism of their posters. However, the Left student wings of Presidency had issued a statement and denied the allegations.

“ABVP has started the work of cleaning the Tukde-Tukde gang from Jadavpur and Presidency. This work must be continued,” Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said.

This comes as both Jadavpur University and Presidency University, two of the top-ranking educational institutes of the State, remained embroiled in repeated controversies and face-offs with the right-wing student group. A massive fight had erupted at JU in August as left- and right-wing student groups clashed.