Swami Vivekananda Statue Vandalised Inside JNU Campus, Objectionable Messages Written

A statue of Swami Vivekananda was vandalised inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday night. Objectionable messages were written on the statue targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Hindutva symbols. It is not clear who defaced the statue, it is clear that the messages were directed at the BJP and its affiliates. The statue is situated on the right side of the administrative block opposite the statue of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The incident has come to light just a day after students entered the JNU administration block and left grafiti targetting vice-chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar.

Statue of Swami Vivekananda inside Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vandalized by miscreants

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The students had earlier demanded to meet him and discuss the hostel fee hike. When they could not find him or any other officials in the building, the protesting students painted messages on walls near the vice-chancellor's office. The students had been objecting plans for what they claim is a huge hike in hostel fees.

The JNU administration announced a partial rollback of the hostel fee hike and also said that clauses in the draft hostel manual pertaining to dress code and curfew timings were also removed.

The protesting students have accused the RSS-affiliated students wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), of creating the graffiti "to defame the varsity and its students".

"Unfortunately, the media and everyone else is hyping the incident which just reflects the anger of the students after they have been denied justice. They are protesting only because the authorities have made a joke of their lives by hiking fees and by their joke in the name of a rollback," he added.