Modi’s effigy burnt at JNU on Dussehra

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Oct 13, 2016, DHNS: NSUI activists at Jawaharlal Nehru University burnt an effigy of Ravan, with faces of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and others, on Dussehra.

The Congress-backed student group burnt the effigy on the varsity premises on Tuesday.

One of the heads on the effigy was that of JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar. The National Students Union of India (NSUI) said he was responsible for the ‘politicisation’ of the February 9 incident where students had allegedly raised anti-India slogans.

The idea was to symbolically represent Modi, Shah and the VC as demons promoting evil ideas, according to Sunny Dhiman of NSUI.

He said that it was meant to burn Hindu fundamentalist ideas which were propagated in the country only after Modi took over.

Dhiman was a presidential candidate in the recent JNU Students Union elections. He said the new JNUSU panel was afraid of Modi and hadn’t taken any serious stance against him. “But we are not afraid of him,” he said.

BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) called the protest an anti-national move and said it was planned only after the surgical strikes by India against Pakistan.

Dhiman said the university administration had recently ordered a proctorial inquiry into the burning of effigies of the Gujarat government and ‘gau rakshaks’, and show cause notices were sent to the students.

“Sending show cause notices to students who are protesting is against JNU culture. Students of all ideologies have always protested against the Centre,” he said.

The effigy also had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse and Asaram Bapu.