Chandigarh, Feb. 27: The battle for campus control reached the Panjab University campus in Chandigarh today as members of Sangh student arm ABVP and those of a Left-aligned group clashed.

The trigger was a protest meet organised by Students for Society (SFS) where one of the speakers had raised the issue of alleged rapes by security forces in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh during anti-Maoist operations.

"We organised the protest against the violence unleashed by ABVP members on students and teachers in Delhi University and Ramjas College. We also felt students should raise issues like the rape of tribal women in Chhattisgarh, which the ABVP members here did not like," said Harmandeep Singh, an SFS leader.

ABVP supporters too held their own protests against Left-backed student bodies. Around 100 ABVP members assembled first at a university landmark, followed by SFS supporters. An altercation began and soon turned into a free-for-all.

"Anti-national elements in our educational institutions should be exposed. Organisations like the (Left-aligned) SFI and AISA should be banned," said Harmanjot Singh Gill, an ABVP leader.

The SFS members claimed the turbans of some of its supporters were removed during the clashes. "The ABVP is acting as the tool of the Narendra Modi government to suppress campus dissent. After JNU, HCU (Hyderabad) and DU, the ABVP now wants to do the same in PU (Panjab University)," said another SFS leader. Four students each from the two sides were arrested.