Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Portrait Vandalised; ABVP JNU Secretary Narrates It All

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members accused Left-wing workers on Sunday, February 19 of damaging Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s portrait on the occasion of his birth anniversary at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). 

A demonstration was also organised by the ABVP activists, who claimed that the left-wing workers had “insulted” Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

“Today is the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We had put up a portrait of Shivaji Maharaj on the walls outside the student activity centre as tribute. But the ‘communists’ of JNU couldn’t digest this. People from ‘100 Flowers Group’ and SFI came and vandalised the portrait of Shivaji Maharaj,” ABVP JNU Secretary Umesh Chandra Ajmera alleged. 

Delhi | ABVP members in JNU alleged portrait of Shivaji Maharaj was vandalised (19.02)

On the occasion of Shivaji Jayanti, we kept a portrait at student activity centre, but students from SFI threw it outside the room while garland was thrown in the dustbin: JNU ABVP Secretary pic.twitter.com/kuY7i0Izbw

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2023

However JNU NSUI Gen Secy asserted that  ABVP members kept Shivaji's portrait at JNUSU office for which permission from JNUSU delegation was needed. Despite that, they did it illegally. Other students came there & removed all portraits for screening programme due to which fight broke out between the two groups. 

Individuals involved were 'illegal workers'

Additionally, he claimed that individuals involved in the incident were 'illegal workers' (outsiders) who had illegally entered the college premises.

“When we asked them to stop, they said, “We will do this, we don’t believe in them, we only believe in Marxist and Leninist ideology and neither they were able to show their ID cards, nor were they going out,” Ajmera said. 

The ABVP Secretary pleaded with the JNU administration to punish those responsible severely and put an end to the miscreants' disruption of the academic environment.

“We request the JNU administration to take strict action against the accused. We also urge the administration to stop illegal students from entering the campus and creating a nuisance. These people should be stopped from bringing a bad name to the university,” Ajmera added.