ABVP protest countered by SFI in DU

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) Delhi University witnessed another round of protest on the contentious Ramayana Text issue with the ABVP and SFI holding counter demonstrations.

While the ABVP members were demanding deletion of contentious text-- ''Three hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translation'' from the undergraduate programme, SFI members were pressing for action against ABVP members who vandalised the History department on February 25.

SFI demonstrators held the protest outside the Vice Chancellor's office, under heavy police presence.

The demonstrators raised anti-ABVP slogans, demanding action against guilty people.

ABVP members were arrested and criminal case filed against them after they went on a rampage during the February 25 protest against alleged objectionable references to the characters of the Ramayana in a text recommended for the University's undergraduate programme.

The BJP's student wing claims that the contentious text is part of a book compiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's daughter Upinder Singh.

The article ''Three hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translation'' was written by the late scholar A K Ramanujan in 1987.

Upinder Singh, a professor of ancient Indian history at the DU, has, however, denied that she had compiled the piece or recommended it to her students.

The ABVP said a deliberate attempt has been made to hurt the religious sentiments. It has already sent memoranda to the vice-chancellor and the head of the history department seeking deletion of the text from the course.

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