The walls of Jawaharlal Nehru University were sprayed with messages calling for reconstruction of Babri Masjid ahead of mega Ram Temple consecration ceremony scheduled in January 22.
Photos of the graffiti were discovered by students on Wednesday night. Graffiti was sprayed on the first floor of School of Language and the message read 'Rebuild Babri Masjid 6 December'. 'NSUI' (National Students' Union of India), was also mentioned below.
As the seemingly NSUI attribution sparked controversy, the student body denied any involvement in the act and stated that the message is part of a conspiracy to defame both the campus and NSUI.
JNU unit president Sudhanshu Shekhar said that the NSUI's name was already present in black marker and that the slogans were added above it later in red marker, The Times of India reported.
The student body called for stringent action against those involved in the act after an investigation.
Naveen Yadav, the chief security officer of JNU, claimed to have no knowledge of the incident. He mentioned that a few months ago, there were also slogans written targeting a specific caste, but no investigation was conducted at that time.
In October this year, a similar incident took place where messages such as "Free Kashmir," "Teri Kabra Khudegi" (Grave of yours will be dug), and "Bhagwa Jalega" were sprayed on the walls of a building within the university.
Slogans like "There will be blood" were also sprayed on the walls of the School of Languages and School of International Studies at the university earlier.
Satish Garkoti, rector of JNU, had said in October that a committee would look into repeated incidents of "anti-national" slogans on its campus. He had further stated that the committee was collaborating with the deans of various schools to gradually install CCTV cameras in strategic areas.
However, it was said that it was not feasible to have CCTV cameras installed throughout the entire campus at once.
Published 29 December 2023, 09:25 IST