About a dozen Bajrang Dal activists stormed the government ayurvedic college in Jammu on Saturday claiming Muslim students were offering namaz on the premises, before being assured this wasn’t true and persuaded by police to leave.

There is no law against religious activities on campuses, but the college authorities’ entire approach seemed to be to placate the intruders by denying that namaz had been held on the premises.

The Bajrang Dal raiders claimed to have been tipped off by some parents, and objected to the purported namaz saying the campus was a public place.

Unlike Uttar Pradesh — where Sangh parivar activists had created a ruckus over namaz at a Lucknow mall — no government order in Jammu and Kashmir bans religious activities at public places.

It is common for Muslim students in Jammu and Kashmir to pray on campuses. The Sangh parivar raid on the Government Ayurvedic College in Akhnoor has prompted many to ask whether the raiders were trying to do an Uttar Pradesh in the Muslim-majority Union Territory.

“This is Akhnoor, Jammu, and not UP. Terrorists barged inside Ayurveda College to stop few Muslim students staying in hostel premises to offer prayers. Listen to the language,” People’s Democratic Party leader Firdous Tak wrote on Facebook.

A video flagged by the Right-wing ecosystem shows mats and skullcaps scattered on a verandah on the campus but contains no visual of anyone offering namaz. It’s not clear who put the mats there.

Dr Shashi Sudhan, principal of the Government Medical College who also holds charge of the ayurvedic college, told The Telegraph: “There is zero per cent reality in it (namaz allegation). There was some miscommunication…. Everything is normal, amicable. I checked the CCTV footage and spoke to the students and faculty and found nothing of that sort happened.”

A staff member said the police had arrived soon after the Bajrang Dal activists stormed the premises.

“They (activists) wanted action against the college management and students but left the place after the police asked them to,” he said.

In a video, a Bajrang Dal activist, Balkar Singh, is heard saying: “They (college management) are denying any such thing was happening inside. Tomorrow, somebody can plant a bomb inside and they will not know anything.”