The Banaras Hindu University has asked the Centre for the Central Industrial Security Force to be deployed permanently on its campus, Vice Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi told The Telegraph on Tuesday. The university claims its own security is inadequate as the university complex is huge and many additional visitors come in to use its hospital and temple.

“There are nearly one lakh people on the campus at any time. We have nearly 800 private security guards but they lack the authority to take strong action against unruly crowds,” Tripathi said. OP Singh, the director-general of the CISF said they are considering the request, but are yet to decide on it.

However, unidentified government officials told the English daily that the university fears campus unrest after the recent protests at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. The university’s move has raised questions about what it would mean for those voicing dissent on campuses to have the paramilitary watching over them. The demand is unprecedented, even among colleges in Maoist areas, the newspaper reported.

Tripathi’s appointment as the vice chancellor in 2014 was considered by many as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre’s move to place Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members in top education roles. Tripathi had long served as a province-level RSS official, and was previously a professor of economics at Allahabad University with few publications to his name.