JNUSU hits out at ABVP for burning effigy with Umar, Sharjeels faces

Tensions flared on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Thursday after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) burnt an effigy of Ravana with the faces of jailed pupil activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam pasted on it.

The transfer, carried out throughout Dasara celebrations, drew sharp condemnation from the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), which accused the ABVP of spreading “politics of hate”. The effigy burning was organised on the name of Vaibhav Meena, JNUSU Joint Secretary and the one ABVP member on the four-member union panel.

In a joint assertion, the opposite workplace bearers of JNUSU stated, “The RSS and ABVP are identified for dividing society on communal traces. We request all college students to isolate these forces and get up in opposition to their politics of hate and disharmony.”

“Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been incarcerated for the final 5 years and are nonetheless below trial. Their bail pleas have been rejected a number of instances on flimsy grounds. Intellectuals, democratic activists, and jurists throughout the globe have raised issues over the incarceration of political prisoners below the BJP’s rule,” the three members stated, calling for the burning of ABVP members’ effigies in response.

Defending the effigy burning, Mr. Meena stated, “This 12 months, the effigy of Ravana was burned as a logo of Naxalism, Leftism, Maoist violence, and anti-national ideologies.” He added the 2 jailed pupil leaders and others have been portrayed because the a number of heads of Ravana, whose “symbolic destruction was declared”.