A Jawaharlal Nehru University student body has filed a written complaint with the Delhi Police stating that they were not allowed to celebrate Janamashtami inside the university campus. Vivekananda Vikas Manch has filed the complaint with the Delhi Police stating that their religious sentiments were hurt after they were allegedly denied permission to celebrate the festival of Janamashtami. The complaint mentions that posters related to the article which were pasted by the Vivekananda Vikas Manch were torn and removed from the campus walls to dissuade the organizers from holding the event. The students body claimed that their religious sentiments were hurt by posters being removed and torn down inside the campus. The incident had created fear and apprehension in the minds of the people from the Manch. However the Vivekananda Vikas Manch later agreed that the celebrations happened without any undue interference and students were able to take part in the celebrations without any unfortunate incident taking place.
According to the written complaint filed by the Vivekananda Vikas Manch to the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Vasant Kunj (North) police station, “On August 28, we had posted banners regarding celebration of Janamashtami in the university campus. It was mentioned in the posters that there will be a Matki phod competition inside the campus on the occasion of Janamashtami. However, later on, that is, September 2, it was found that these posters were removed from multiple sites. These banners or posters were removed by Himanshu Kulshreshtha, who is the head of Election Committee of JNU.”
Talking about the incident a senior Delhi Police official said, “We had received a written complaint from the Vivekananda Vikas Manch but it has not yet been converted into an FIR.” He also went on to add that the Janamashtami celebrations had taken place without any disturbance in the campus. The student body went on to blame the left wing student organizations for attempting to disrupt the proceedings inside JNU campus. Allegations were also levied by the student body on the left student parties of trying to threaten them with physical violence if the celebrations inside JNU indeed took place.
This is not the first time when JNU is in the news for wrong reasons, from supporting separatist elements in the country to openly standing with Naxals, JNU student organizations are increasingly becoming political. The fact that the Janamashtami celebrations finally took place in the campus does not undermine the fact that an attempt was made to dissuade people from enjoying their harmless religious festivals. It also might be the case that the left wing organisations lost their motivation after the Delhi police were involved in the matter by the student body. Had the police not been involved JNU on the day of Janamashtami might have witnessed a clash between members of the two parties. It is surprising how such activities which are so biased are being allowed to continue inside the JNU campus which is located in the heart of India’s capital Delhi. The left wing dominated campus has been known to throttle any voices which do not resonate with its own, thereby acting as oppressors in their own way.
