The epicentre of student politics, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), is in the spotlight yet again. This time over the controversial graffiti at a few places inside the campus, which came to light on Thursday, with the pictures going viral across social media platforms.
According to the details, a few unknown miscreants painted caste slurs and controversial writings on the walls of School for International Studies (SIS) 1 and 2.
Slogans such as ‘Go back to shakha, there will be blood, Brahmins leave the campus’ among others were found painted on the SIS premises. Some slogans were even painted outside the professors’ chamber.
“I am proud to be associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology and so are other fellow professors. Targeting a set of faculty who belong to the same ideology reveals who the real culprits are," said Dr Pravesh Kumar, associate professor, SIS.
He further said the opposition should be done on the basis of ideological dialogues, not through “derogatory slogans", that too on professors.
MISCREANTS UNKNOWN
While the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) wing indirectly blamed the Leftists for the incident, an official statement followed from the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), which is ruled by the All India Students Association (AISA).
The statement read that earlier, too, miscreants wrote ‘Muslim lives don’t matter’, but no action was taken. The JNUSU reiterated the demand of the ABVP to set up a committee to look into the matter.
Delhi | The Vice-Chancellor has taken serious note of the incident of defacement of walls & faculty rooms by some unknown elements in SIS, JNU. The Dean, School of International Studies & Grievances Committee have been asked to inquire & submit a report to VC at the earliest: JNU pic.twitter.com/5YFvrLWhjc— ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2022
Meanwhile, JNU VC Santishree D Pandit visited SIS 1, 2 and urged students to maintain peace and harmony on the campus. She also asked students to be vigilant in order to prevent such cases in the future.
The campus, meanwhile, remained peaceful, unlike the violent scenes between ideological opponents seen in the past.
VOICES FROM THE GROUND
The slurs have been used to garner freshers’ attention and show dominance over them, alleged one of the workers associated with the ABVP.
JNU VC M Jagadesh Kumar: It is our duty&responsibility to keep JNU on the path of becoming a globally renowned university for which peace and normalcy have to be restored in the campus. We should do our best in our mission of making JNU a place of learning&enviable recognition. pic.twitter.com/gpGyLiyfwN— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2019
News18 tried speaking to some of the freshers who said that this is not what they were expecting during the initial days of the classes. “Now that the matter is serious and involves attack on a particular caste, the JNU administration should take a quick action once the miscreants are identified," they said.
ACTION TAKEN
The reading room at both the buildings where the slogans were written will be shifted to the ground floor starting December 5. Till the shifting is completed, the room will be closed. This decision was taken immediately after an emergency meeting between thedean and chairperson of SIS on Friday morning.
The JNU administration has also issued an advisory, keeping in view of prevailing security issues. The committee suggested the following advisory to be sent to each School/Special Centre(s):
- All Schools/Centres should have single entry/exit point.
- Maintaining entry/exit register at the entry point of the Schools/Centres.
- Installation of CCTV cameras at each floor of the Schools/Centres building.
- A notice board regarding prevention of defacement of public property should be fixed at appropriate place in every School/Centre building.
- Adequate lighting of each corridor of Schools/Centres.
- Orientation programme should be conducted to sensitize the JNU community from time to time.
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