At the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, a dispute over an unannounced meeting on campus grounds escalated into violence, leaving students with apparent knife wounds and a community in fracture. The students, who believed the gathering was organized by affiliates of the RSS — the ideological wellspring of India's ruling party — saw their challenge to political intrusion met not with dialogue but with blades. The incident joins a long history of contests over who may claim the spaces where young minds are meant to develop freely, and what happens when those spaces become co
Kolkata film students allege knife attack after confronting alleged RSS-affiliated group
Students sustained apparent knife wounds during the violent altercation; exact number and severity of injuries not specified in the report.
They called us anti-nationals and attacked us with knives.
Mark
So what exactly happened at this film institute? Was this a planned confrontation or did it escalate unexpectedly?
Mimi
The students say they learned about the meeting and went to confront the group about it. They wanted to know what was happening on their campus without their knowledge. When they asked questions, it turned into a fight.
Luke
But we should be careful here—we have the students' account that it was an RSS event, and we have videos that appear to show knife wounds. What we don't have is the other group's version of events, or police confirmation of what actually happened.
Mark
Why would the students be so opposed to this meeting in the first place? Is it just about the RSS connection?
Mimi
The students say it wasn't a film screening or academic event—it was direct political promotion. They felt the campus should be neutral space, and they weren't even informed it was happening.
Luke
That's fair, but we should note that the students' characterization of the event as "RSS promotion" comes from them. The group itself is called the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat. We don't have a statement from them explaining what they were actually doing there.
Mark
What's the bigger picture here? Why does the RSS matter so much that students would confront a group over it?
Mimi
The RSS is the ideological parent of Modi's ruling party. It's associated with Hindu nationalism. For many students, especially at a creative institution, having that kind of political organizing on campus feels like an intrusion into a space that should be open and pluralistic.
Luke
That context is important, but we also need to be honest about what we can verify. DW couldn't independently verify the videos showing knife wounds. We don't know how many students were actually injured, how badly, or what the police investigation has found so far.
Mark
So the campus is still tense?
Mimi
Yes. Students are inside, the group members are gathered outside. It's a standoff.
Luke
And that's the last concrete thing we know. Everything beyond that—what happens next, whether charges are filed, what the investigation reveals—is still unfolding.
O Pulso
- Students at a prestigious film institute discovered an unannounced meeting on their campus and moved to confront the outside group directly, believing it to be RSS-affiliated political organizing on neutral academic ground.
- The confrontation turned violent when members of the group — identifying themselves as the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat — reportedly called students anti-nationals and Naxals before allegedly attacking them with knives.
- Videos appearing to show knife wounds on students circulated widely on social media, amplifying outrage, though their authenticity could not be independently confirmed.
- The campus hardened into a standoff — students sheltering inside the institute while members of the outside group gathered on the grounds — with no public police investigation or formal charges announced as of Sunday.
- The episode sharpens a broader national tension: who controls access to educational institutions, and whether administrative channels can be trusted to protect students from political encroachment.
At the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, a dispute over an unannounced meeting on campus grounds escalated into violence, leaving students with apparent knife wounds and a community in fracture. The students, who believed the gathering was organized by affiliates of the RSS — the ideological wellspring of India's ruling party — saw their challenge to political intrusion met not with dialogue but with blades. The incident joins a long history of contests over who may claim the spaces where young minds are meant to develop freely, and what happens when those spaces become contested terrain in a nation's larger ideological struggle.
On Sunday morning, students at Kolkata's Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute came forward to say they had been attacked with knives the previous day, after confronting an outside group holding an unannounced meeting on campus. The students believed the gathering was connected to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh — the right-wing Hindu organization that forms the ideological backbone of Prime Minister Modi's BJP — and saw its presence on campus as a violation of the institute's political neutrality.
Editing student and union member Poorvi Bondre described how the student union, upon learning of the meeting, went to question the participants. The group identified itself as the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat. Rather than answering, its members accused the students of being anti-nationals and Naxals — a charged term for communist insurgents — before allegedly turning to violence. Bondre was clear about what the students objected to: this was not an academic event, she said, but direct RSS promotion on a campus that should have been shielded from partisan activity.
Videos showing what appeared to be knife wounds on students spread across social media, though Deutsche Welle could not independently verify them. By Sunday, the campus had settled into an uneasy standoff, with students inside and members of the outside group gathered on the grounds. No formal charges or public police investigation had emerged.
The confrontation illuminates a tension that runs well beyond one campus: the question of where political organizing ends and institutional space begins, and what students are left to do when they believe the institution itself will not protect that boundary. In choosing direct confrontation over administrative complaint, the students signaled either a loss of faith in formal processes or a conviction that such processes would not move fast enough — a calculation that, on this occasion, came at a physical cost.
On Sunday morning, students at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata said they had been attacked with knives the day before. The violence erupted after they confronted members of an outside group about a meeting being held on campus without their knowledge. The students believed the gathering was affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the right-wing Hindu organization that serves as the ideological foundation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party.
Poorvi Bondre, an editing student from Maharashtra and a member of the SRFTI student union, described the sequence of events to journalists. The student union had learned of the meeting and moved to question the participants about what was taking place. When they asked for details, the conversation turned confrontational. Members of the group, which identified itself as the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, responded by calling the students anti-nationals and Naxals—a term used to describe communist insurgents. Then, according to the students' account, the group attacked them with knives.
Bondre explained the students' objection to the event. This was not a film screening or an academic discussion, she said, but direct promotion of the RSS agenda on a campus that should have remained neutral political ground. The institute had not informed the student union about the meeting, and the students saw the gathering as an attempt to use the campus for partisan purposes without transparency or consent from the student body.
Social media videos circulated showing students with what appeared to be knife wounds. However, Deutsche Welle was unable to independently verify the authenticity of these images. The incident left the campus in a state of tension. Students remained inside the institute while members of the outside group gathered on the grounds, creating a standoff that persisted into Sunday.
The RSS is not a marginal political force in India. It is the organizational and ideological wellspring from which Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party emerged. The organization has long been a focal point of controversy, with critics arguing it promotes a Hindu nationalist agenda that marginalizes religious minorities. For students at a film institute—an institution typically associated with artistic freedom and intellectual inquiry—the presence of what they saw as RSS organizing on campus represented a breach of the space they believed should be protected from such political activity.
The incident raises questions about access to educational campuses and the boundaries between political organizing and institutional neutrality. It also underscores existing tensions in Indian society between different political movements and their competing visions for the country's direction. The students' decision to confront the group directly, rather than filing a complaint through administrative channels, suggests a level of frustration with institutional processes or a belief that such processes would not be effective.
As of Sunday, the campus remained divided. The exact number of students injured and the severity of their wounds were not specified in available reports. The incident had not yet resulted in formal charges or a police investigation that had been made public. What remained clear was that a confrontation over political space on a college campus had turned violent, leaving students injured and a campus community fractured.
Citações Notáveis
This was an RSS event. We were completely unaware of this event. When we asked them what this was about, the fight started. They called us anti-nationals and Naxals and attacked us with knives.— Poorvi Bondre, SRFTI editing student and student union member
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