The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has alleged that “provocative slogans” such as “Free Umar Khalid” and “Long Live Naxalbari” were written on the walls of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), urging the administration to take cognisance of the incidents and appropriate action against those responsible.
“Freedom of expression must go hand in hand with responsibility and respect for public property and differing viewpoints. Universities should be spaces for constructive debate, not provocation and confrontation. The JNU administration has reportedly taken cognisance of the matter and is looking into it, saying it would not allow vested interests to disturb peace on the campus. “Regarding their demand for holding a union election, I informed them that we have already formed a draft committee tasked with drafting a constitution. They then asked for a deadline. However, he acknowledged that some posters carrying the same slogan had been put up on the campus and demanded strict action against those responsible.
Speaking to reporters, Jamia Registrar Rizvi said he had personally met students staging a hunger strike and discussed their demand for students’ union elections. I told them that the sooner they complete the draft constitution, the sooner we will conduct the elections—a proposal they agreed to,” the registrar said, according to news agency ANI. On Saturday, Congress leader Imran Masood visited the Jamia campus and dismissed reports of “Free Kashmir” slogans being raised there as fake news. “As for the graffiti written yesterday—the ‘Free Kashmir’ slogan—we condemn it in the strongest possible terms; we will not support it under any circumstances,” he said.
ABVP JNU demands that the university administration take cognisance of these incidents, identify those responsible, and take appropriate action to safeguard the dignity and academic atmosphere of the campus,” ABVP JNU said in a post on X on Saturday.
