JNU has found itself in the news once again. In an attempt to cleanse the university, the university officials have launched a campaign to remove all the posters pasted on the walls of the campus. This hasn’t been taken too kindly by a section of the students, who have planned a poster pasting drive on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The university officials have taken this initiative to remove the posters, citing an executive council’s decision last year under the Delhi defacement of property Act, 2007. The administration has directed the students to put up posters or banners only on the designated boards.
The walls of JNU are filled with posters and paintings of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Nelson Mandela and BR Ambedkar along with several spiritual gurus. They carry messages of various political groups in the campus and the day to day demands of the students. The posters also portray the current affairs of the world and depict the major freedom movements across the globe. However, the depictions have a leftist bias and so, quite a few of the posters come out as anti-national.
According to the students, the administration has already removed posters and banners from the walls around the two buildings of the School of Social Sciences and the School of International Studies.
The students, perturbed with the decision have decided to protest. Former students’ union general secretary, Satarupa Chakroborty said the university will “lose its spirit”. She stated, “In JNU, we learnt theories in classroom much later. The real learning began when we entered the university and observed its walls. We read and debate all these topics. That’s how generations of students have grown up in this university, emerged as students, leaders, scholars, academicians and bureaucrats. But from now on the freshers wouldn’t get the opportunity of that remarkable learning experience.”
In light of this, the JNU students union has called for a poster pasting drive on the 1019 acre campus on Tuesday and Wednesday.
PK Joshi, the director of Swachh JNU on Saturday issued a warning against JNUSU’s mass poster making drive. He posted a circular stating, “It has come to the notice of the university administration that some students are planning to hold march across campus and stick posters on the walls of buildings. Attention of university’s campus residents is invited to circulars dated 10.06.2019 and 01.07.2019 issued by the Director Swachh JNU wherein all concerned had been called to strictly abide by the provision of Delhi Defacement of Property Act, 2007 and JNU executive council decision taken in its meeting dated 13.03.2018. Therefore, any person found violating above instructions shall render themselves liable for action/penalty in terms of the Act and university rules.”
Under the garb of “learning experience”, the JNU campus is full of posters and paintings, depicting a particular ideology. Focusing on the “politically correct” narrative, the posters act as a form of conditioning to the new students entering the premises. The freshers don’t get an opportunity to formulate their own views and the posters act as a medium to “force feed” the leftist propaganda. With this decision, the students will be free to choose their own ideology and formulate their own viewpoints through balanced education. The posters will cease to play on the psyche of the individual.
