The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Thursday ordered its security staff to take down a poster, which it deemed controversial, from the campus. Members of the Democratic Students Union are believed to have been put up the sign, which read: “Freedom for Kashmir! Free Palestine! Right to Self Determination Long Live!”. It is signed off with “DSU”.
“The university has already lost precious time and energy in such unnecessary controversies. Unfortunately, a small group of people are still trying to create another ruckus and vitiate the academic environment, a senior university official told PTI. “We don’t know who put up the poster as this has been the pattern in JNU. However, the administration has asked the staff to bring it down.”
Students noticed the illustration on the wall of the new School of Social Sciences block. An image of the poster was later circulated by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which has been embroiled in a controversy over protests at Delhi’s Ramjas College. On February 22, clashes had broken out at the college between members of the ABVP and All India Students Association, after the right-wing outfit forced the administration to cancel a seminar at which JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora were to speak.
The poster also included an image of 2001 Parliament attacks convict Afzal Guru. JNU students and former DSU members Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others had organised an event at the university last February to protest against Guru’s hanging. The duo, along with former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, had been arrested on sedition charges in connection with the protest. They are now out on bail.
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