Hyderabad: Tension prevailed at Osmania University on Thursday as police arrested dozens of students and activists of various groups to prevent a beef festival planned by some students and a pork festival and cow worship by their rivals.
While police sealed the university campus and arrested protesters, some organisers of the beef festival posted pictures and videos on social media, claiming that they succeeded in organising it.
Police, which threw a thick security blanket around the campus, arrested student leaders, workers of Bajrang Dal, Gau Raksha Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to foil all three programmes.
The protesters for and against the beef festival were taken into custody. (IANS)
P.L. Visweswara Rao, a former professor of Osmania University, and others who had reached the campus in support of the beef festival were also arrested.
Some unidentified people pelted stones at a bus of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) near the university, damaging window panes. However, nobody was injured.
Earlier, police arrested BJP legislator Raja Singh and dozens of students and activists of various groups to prevent any untoward incident.
Raja Singh was taken into preventive custody from his house in Dhoolpet area in the morning as he planned to join the ‘Gau Maata puja’ (cow worship) planned by some right-wing Hindu groups on the campus.
Women activists of the Gau Raksha Dal were also arrested when they tried to enter the campus. (IANS)
