Women Of Low Standards Fall Over Men: BJP Leader Dilip Ghosh On University Row

Kolkata: The young women who have complained about being molested at Kolkata's Jadavpur University are "women of low standards" who "fall over men and then complain of being harassed" in the assessment of senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh.

Mr Ghosh, who heads the party in West Bengal, said today that he has no regrets for those comments made over the weekend, which have catalyzed a protest this evening at Jadavpur University by the Left.

Mr Ghosh, 51, says that along with Hyderabad Central University and Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU, Jadavpur has served as "a zamindari" or feudal terrain of the Left.  "We have attacked these places," he said, "they are worried about their zamindari slipping away." He also said his language is "secondary" and that what's more important is his evaluation of the deteriorating values on campuses.  
The three universities he refers to have seen violent clashes of ideologies between Left-leaning students and the ABVP, a student party affiliated to the BJP.

At Jadavpur University last week, students clashed over the screening of a film named "Buddha In A Traffic Jam", which had also triggered protests at JNU over its depiction of nationalism.  Women students complained about being molested by people affiliated to ABVP  in the violence.  Director Vivek Agnihotri said his car had been attacked by student protestors.

When student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on charges of sedition in February from JNU, sympathetic protests were held by students at Jadavpur University.

January's suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student at Hyderabad University, has become a central part of the agenda of Left-affiliated students at JNU and Jadavpur University, who accuse the BJP of inciting divisive politics on campuses through the ABVP, which denies the charges.