IPL 2018: ABVP protest over the removal of student discount by Rajasthan Royals

What's the story?

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad was angered after being deprived of student discounts by the RR team. They protested for more than an hour outside the Sawai Maan Singh Stadium on Tuesday for the same. The Rajasthan police had to finally drag the unruly students away. They were reportedly dropped off near the Jhalana institutional area in a police van.

In case you didn't know...

IPL matches in Jaipur were held by Rajasthan Cricket Association until the team was banned from the league in 2015. Now, the Rajasthan Royals themselves are responsible for the matches.

The heart of the matter

The ABVP protested to demand the same discount from the home team. Almost 3,00,000 students were facing difficulties to watch the match in the stadium due to the change in rules.

Vikram Chaudhary, the co-secretary of ABVP in Jaipur said, “A counter was used to be set up at RU every season. Students used to receive tickets at about 50 percent discounted rates. However, there is no counter for selling tickets at the university this year and no concession is being provided. We have demanded 50 per cent concession.”

As many as 12 protestors were taken into police custody post the ruckus.

What's next?

The team, currently waiting for NoC certificate for fire safety from the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC), hasn't issued any further statement in this matter.

The Rajasthan Royals take on the Delhi Daredevils in the SMS Stadium today at 8 pm.

Author's take

The bouncers were reported to be mere spectators of the protests. This comments on the poor security at the SMS Stadium.

Given that youth are the primary audience of the league and they've been habituated to these discounts, creating a commotion was no way to go about it, especially when the match is to be played the same day.