NEW DELHI: India's Himachal Pradesh University remains tense on Thursday, two days after activists on campus clashed with each other at a boys hostel on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. At least 25 students were injured in the violence between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) and Student Federation of India (SFI) activists. Students threw stones at one another in the campus on Tuesday night for nearly four hours and three students were admitted to Indira Gandhi Medical College, including general secretary of Student Central Association (SCA) Hoshiyar Singh, who fractured his arm during a charge by police to disperse students. Hostel property was also damaged in several blocks. Five students each group were later arrested by police. In the wake of clashes, university authorities have ordered to close the boys' hostels indefinitely from June 14 onwards. The campus has been fortified and three reserve battalions of police, including one female battalion, are on vigil to prevent further violence. The current incidents of violence between the two outfits were sparked by a clash which occurred on Saturday at Rajkiya Kanya Mahavidyalya, popularly known as RKMV, on Monday. Students later again clashed outside the DC office. Clashes between student activists have become a regular feature at the university before the initiation of new academic sessions every year. Since the first student representative body was elected in 1977, SFI has had an edge in campus politics. While SFI, the student wing of CPM, is sensitive to maintain its stronghold, the other two dominating parities, ABVP and NSUI, student wings of BJP and Congress respectively, too are desperate to increase their vote share. The outfits have been at loggerheads over petty issues like control over help booths set by for new students, posters, and hostel allotment. Two students were injured during stone-pelting in March this year. In 2011, on May 22 a clash between SFI and NSUI activists left five students injured. Violent clashes in July 2010 left four students injured in a fight between SFI and ABVP activists with around 60 students, including girls, being arrested.
