Yesterday, the notoriously left-leaning JNU campus was reverberating from the chants of ‘Mandir Wahin Banayenge’ and Jai Shri Ram. But as one can speculate, JNU officials stood against it claiming that these things will vitiate the campus environment.
The rally and cavalcade were organized as part of the RSS’ Sankalp Yatra in support of the Ram Mandir. “For the first time I saw a rally of this sort on the campus,” exclaimed Rohit Azad, a university teacher.”A group went around in a big truck followed by around 30 others on the motorcycle, all shouting slogans supporting a Ram Mandir. They had saffron flags, music system and were playing songs”, he added.
JNU student’s Union called it an illegal entry into the campus premise. Union President N Sai Balaji said, ”The Rallyists forced themselves through the Saraswatipuram gate in breach of security”. “We were told by the security personnel that there was no permission given for such a rally on the campus”, he added. Replying to his allegations, The RSS-affiliated ABVP countered the charges and said, “If something is democratically conducting such a Sankalp Yatra, then it is their democratic right to do so”.
JNU campus has always been a breeding ground for the left liberals. These people always brag about the free speech and freedom of expression. But shows their hypocrisy whenever it comes to listening to the other’s view. Last year when the Anti-India slogans were shouted in JNU campus no one from the JNU administration condemned it. After this incident, they started an open lecture series on ideologies in Indian society. But not a single scholar representing the Right wing was called there. A talk by Dr. Subramanian Swamy titled as “Ram temple in Ayodhya” also got canceled.
But things are changing with time, the youth of the JNU campus started to realize the biased stance of administration against the right-wing ideology. In JNUSU elections the entire left alleged student’s association formed an alliance just like opposition parties are doing in the centre or at the state level to defeat ABVP.
Looking into the public sentiments in support of Ram Mandir, BJP MPs Rakesh Sinha and Manoj Tiwary also decided to push private member bills in the Parliament. JNU administration has recently proposed to install a statue of Swami Vivekananda in the campus. The rally in itself signifies the declining influence of the far left organizations in the campus of JNU and is a welcome change from the shouts of ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ which were used to reverberate across the JNU a few years earlier.