BCJD, ABVP members hold hunger strike at Utkal University

Bhubaneswar: In an unusual show of unity, the activists of Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have been staging a hunger strike on Utkal University premises here, raising the demand for ensuring students’ safety on the varsity campus, though they differed on the issue of non-students.

Reports said while the ABVP is firm on making the hostels free of non-students, BCJD op[1]posed this, saying that non-students deserve hostel accommodation as they are the university’s alumni.

They have nothing to do with the narcotic smuggling busted inside the campus April 11, 2025. ABVP national executive body member Biswajeet Patra, also a varsity student, said, “Our protest has entered the third day.

Our demand is to enhance security on the university premises by installing CCTVs, and intensifying police patrolling to curb illegal activities.” Patra further said, “The non-students are from BCJD who have occupied the hostels illegally. A notice has been issued to vacate the non-students from hostels, but it is yet to come into effect.

We will continue our protest until the university administration evicts non-students from the hostels.” The BCJD members and students raised similar demands regarding campus security, but refuted the allegations of ABVP members who termed the alumni as ‘non-students’.

Similarly, BCJD state general secretary Asit Ranjan Mohanty, an LLM student, said, “The allegations of ABVP are completely false.

PNN

 

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