Hindu right-wing mob attacks pro-Palestine rally in southern India
Police accused of siding with BJP-linked student group after assault on Palestine solidarity march at English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD, India (MNTV) — A solidarity march for Palestine at a university in southern India descended into chaos after police and members of a right-wing Hindu student group allegedly attacked demonstrators, in what students say reflects India’s increasingly hostile climate toward pro-Palestine activism.
The demonstration, held Tuesday evening at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad, was organized by the Students’ Union to protest Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Students said the event remained peaceful until cadres of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the student wing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — arrived at the site after the march ended, chanting nationalist slogans and tearing down Palestinian flags and posters.
According to Maktoob Media, witnesses said the vandalism provoked outrage among students, leading to a confrontation in which ABVP members began pushing and assaulting protesters. When police entered the campus, they reportedly ignored the initial attacks and instead ordered the removal of all Palestine-related material, siding with the ABVP group.
Students alleged that officers dragged away a demonstrator wearing a keffiyeh — a Palestinian scarf symbolic of resistance — and detained him without charge. As other students marched toward the university’s main gate to protest, police allegedly used excessive force to disperse them.
Eyewitnesses said male officers manhandled female student leaders, including the Students’ Union vice-president and joint secretary, and used derogatory language while threatening to file criminal cases against those who refused to leave. One student claimed that an officer “pulled out a gun and waved it in the air” to intimidate the crowd.
Authorities later deployed additional forces across the campus, enforcing an unofficial lockdown and confining students to their hostels. “The aggressive police action has left everyone frightened,” said a student organizer. “We protested Israeli war crimes — and ended up treated like criminals ourselves.”
The incident highlights how pro-Palestine solidarity in India is increasingly met with repression from both state authorities and right-wing groups aligned with the BJP. Under Modi’s leadership, Hindu nationalist networks have grown closer to Israel, framing the Palestinian struggle as a parallel to India’s own fight against “Islamic extremism.”
Rights advocates say the crackdown at EFLU mirrors a broader pattern across Indian campuses, where expressions of Muslim solidarity — from opposition to the Gaza siege to resistance against domestic discrimination — are now policed as acts of dissent against the state itself.
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