An effigy with ten heads depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, yoga guru Ramdev and the Jawaharlal Nehru University vice chancellor, among others, was set ablaze on the campus on Dussera. The effigy was burnt on Tuesday by members of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress.
An NSUI spokesperson said the effigy was meant to symbolise the anti-poor and anti-people policies adopted by the National Democratic Alliance government, and burning it was the students’ symbolic gesture of burning the “evil” of the Centre’s policies. Photos of the effigy were uploaded and widely circulated on social media.
Sunny Diman, an NSUI activist and JNU student, told The Hindu: "The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the current government and to root out the evil from governance." Muzzafarnagar riots accused Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse and self-styled godman and rape accused Asaram also figured in the effigy.
Though the college administration did not clarify whether the students had sought permission for the event, JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar said a probe had been ordered in connection to the incident. He said, "The effigy burning incident at JNU was brought to our notice. We are investigating the matter and examining all relevant information.
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