Jadavpur: Authorities of Jadavpur University on Tuesday whitewashed graffiti that said “Azad Kashmir”, a day after a section of students wrote to the pro-vice chancellor demanding it be erased.
At a time when 26 people were killed by militants in Pahalgam, the graffiti “is a sign of utter disrespect to national integrity and aims to provoke anti-national sentiment”, the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad wrote to the JU pro-VC on Monday.
The university on Tuesday afternoon sent its staff to whitewash the graffiti painted on a wall of Technology Bhavan, near gate number three.
The graffiti also said “Free Palestine” and had references to places like Ladakh, Manipur and Deocha Pachami. These were whitewashed, too.
The TMCP letter, signed by unit president Kishaloy Roy, said they wanted “immediate removal” of the graffiti.
Acting registrar Indrajit Banerjee said the graffiti whitewashing was part of the campus beautification drive.
“Last month, we whitewashed the walls of Aurobindo Bhavan. Now, the drive has been expanded,” Banerjee told Metro on Tuesday.
Days after education minister Bratya Basu was allegedly heckled on the campus on March 1, Kolkata Police had started a suo motu case against supporters of the Progressive Democratic Students Federation for painting the Azad Kashmir graffiti. The police had drawn up a case under section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that criminalises any act that attempts to excite secession or armed rebellion.
The minister had allegedly been heckled by Left and ultra-Left student supporters demanding that campus elections be resumed.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students’ wing of the RSS, also objected to the graffiti.
On April 6, when the ABVP held Ram Navami Puja on the JU campus, they had covered the graffiti with pictures of Ram.
Tirtharaj Bardhan, an undergraduate international relations student and the secretary of the TMCP unit at JU, said: “When the entire country is mourning the loss of innocent lives following the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam, such graffiti laced with anti-national sentiment could not be allowed. If the authorities did not act by Tuesday, we would have whitewashed it ourselves.”
Ujan Bhuiya, a student supporter of the RSF (Revolutionary Students Front), a frontal organisation of the CPI-Maoist, said the move amounted to curbing democratic space on the campus.
“We give voice to our ideals and beliefs through these graffiti. By whitewashing the wall writing, they are trying to squeeze the democratic space that JU has been known for. Graffiti is a tool of conveying our message of protest to the powers-that-be,” said Bhuiya.