Swami Vivekananda Signboard In JNU Vandalised: RSS-Linked Students' Body

The JNU unit of the RSS-affiliated ABVP has filed a police complaint alleging that the signboard of a road named after Swami Vivekananda in the campus has been vandalised.

Police said they have received a complaint and are looking into the matter.

Calling the vandalism "a pre-planned attack on the ideologically diverse nature of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus", the ABVP claimed that a few student union leaders have given an open call for taking down the signboard.

"We are witnessing continuous assaults on symbols of national significance inside the JNU campus. In yet another sequence of the recurring defacement of statues and sign boards named on the personalities significant to our national identity and pride, the perpetrators seem to be persevering, without any respect for law and order.

"... it is a clear violation of the Defacement of Public Property Act, 2007... We appeal to the police administration to identify the perpetrators and take strict action against them, to ensure peace and decorum in the campus," the complaint by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said.

JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) vice-president Saket Moon said the ABVP was trying to divert attention from the real issues faced by the varsity.

"JNUSU has been demanding that the administration allow a phased return of students to campus and other issues like online registration for the upcoming semester. The ABVP is trying to divert attention from the real issues and are trying to shield the administration from being answerable on these issues," he said.

Objectionable messages, mostly directed towards right-wing outfits, were found written on the pedestal of a yet to be unveiled statue of Swami Vivekananda on the JNU campus last year in November following which the varsity administration had filed a police complaint.

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