'This Is What They Stole The Votes For': Anurag Kashyap Condemns SRFTI Violence

Several people were injured at Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) on Sunday, September 27, after students clashed with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP). Police have registered FIRs and are probing the incident. Anurag Kashyap has reacted to the incident.

What Anurag Kashyap said about the SRFTI violence

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap reacted on Sunday night after sharing a statement from the SRFTI Students’ Union on Instagram. “This is what they stole the votes for in Bengal. This and so much more,” Kashyap said, referring to allegations of ‘vote chori’ in West Bengal and other parts of India.

About SRFTI vs ABGP controversy

The clash began during an ABGP programme at SRFTI’s Main Theatre, PTI reported. The students’ account says it later spread to other parts of the campus. The students’ union and the organisation have given different versions of how the confrontation began.

ABGP said it had paid ₹15,000 to book the auditorium and had received permission from the institute.

The programme began around 10 AM, the organisation stated. It described the event as an awareness and organisational programme focused on consumer rights.

The students’ union said a group of students reached the Main Theatre in the afternoon and put up posters asking why the event had been cleared.

In a statement issued after the incident, the SRFTI Students’ Union said students had not been told about the event before permission was granted.

The union said the confrontation escalated after ABGP members faced the students. It alleged that students were abused and hit with punches, kicks, sticks, stones and bricks. The union also said the violence spread across the campus and affected students who had not joined the first protest.

Some students ran into the library. The union said the group was chased there and that the librarian was also assaulted.

Students also said their phones were seized and some clothes were torn in the clash. At an evening press conference, they said they were called “urban Naxals”, “terrorists” and “jihadis”.

Some students also said they were threatened with rape. Editing student Duttatreya Dey was injured after a stone hit him, while another student lost consciousness after a brick struck him.

Reports said about 30 students and two teachers were hurt. Several students were taken to hospital after the clash.