First 'Jinnah Wali Azadi'; now 'Jinnah Marg' at JNU? BJP rages at Savarkar board vandalism

Reacting to the recent controversy in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where black ink was thrown on a campus road sign named after V.D Savarkar, and a poster was put up calling it ‘Mohammad Ali Jinnah Marg’, BJP leader Sambit Patra on Tuesday highlighted how first slogans of 'Jinnah wali Azadi' had been raised and now Jinnah's posters had been pasted over Indian freedom fighters. Targeting the miscreants, he added, "And if you label them “Anti-Nationals” they cry hoarse!"

'This is now a coincidence'

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya speaking to Republic TV said, "We should not call them vandals, the fact is these are students perhaps associated with the Left Unions who may be responsible for doing this. Now, this is not a coincidence, this is what the Left believes in, this is how the communists have brainwashed the generations of students and created an army of Urban Naxals. These are the same people who sponsored and thronged Shaheen Bagh where we heard slogans like 'Jinnah wali Azadi'"

He added, "Now you have the same set of people who are defacing signboards in JNU renaming roads and lanes named after freedom fighters after the man who is responsible for India's division. This is the kind of mindset that needs to be exposed."

Earlier, on Sunday night (March 15), this road sign was erected in the Purvanchal area of the campus and was named after Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar. In a sharp reaction to the incident, JNU Teacher's Federation has slammed the 'Anti-social elements' and said that they must be punished. "First they vandalised Vivekananda statue, then Veer Savarkar. JNUTF strongly condemns such vandalism," they said in a statement released on Tuesday morning. 

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Aishe Ghosh admits changing it to BR Ambedkar Marg

However, students union President Aishe Ghosh took to Twitter on Monday night and posted a picture of the same road sign with 'BR Ambedkar' scribbled on it, using white spray paint. She wrote that they cannot accept 'apologists and stooges of the British' and said that one should respect the man who gave the Constitution.

READ | Here's BJP's Sambit Patra's take on Shaheen Bagh protestors asking for 'Jinnah Wali Azadi'

READ | Black ink thrown on JNU's new Savarkar Marg sign; 'Mohammad Ali Jinnah Marg' pasted