Vivekananda statue desecrated in JNU

JNUSU president said Vivekananda's statue is clearly a tactic to divert the whole attention. None of the JNU students have done it.

The soon to be inaugurated statue of Vivekananda was desecrated by a group of students protesting in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) – reports said.

Objectionable messages were written on the Swami Vivekananda Statue inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The incident has come to light just a day after students entered the JNU administration block and left painted messages for vice-chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. The students had earlier demanded to meet him and discuss the hostel fee hike.

JNU Associate professor Anand Ranganathan calling the desecration shocking and unacceptable asserted that Freedom of Speech and Expression does not mean hurting someone physically or defacing, vandalising public property.

Responding to allegations, JNUSU president Oishi Ghosh said Vivekananda's statue is clearly a tactic to divert the whole attention. None of the JNU students have done it.

However, the JNU administration announced a partial rollback of the hostel fee hike and also said that clauses in the draft hostel manual pertaining to dress code and curfew timings were also removed.