Ruckus Over Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Portrait's 'Vandalism' at JNU; Students 'Attacked'

New Delhi: Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Sunday accused Left-wing workers of vandalising the portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his birth anniversary at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). ABVP activists also staged a protest while accusing the left-wing workers of `insulting` Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji Maharaj`s portrait was placed on the walls of the students activity centre on Sunday, and ABVP members alleged that the vandalism was carried out by a group of left-wing workers. ABVP JNU Secretary Umesh Chandra Ajmera said, "Today is the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We had put up a portrait of Shivaji Maharaj on the walls outside the student activity centre as tribute."

"But the `communists` of JNU couldn`t digest this. People from `100 Flowers Group` and SFI came and vandalised the portrait of Shivaji Maharaj," Ajmera alleged while speaking to ANI. He further alleged that those involved in the incident were "illegal workers" (outsiders) and had entered the college premises without permission. "When we asked to stop, they said, "We will do this, we don`t believe in them, we only believe in Marxist and Leninist ideology"," said Ajmera while adding that neither they were able to show their ID cards, nor were they going out.

Delhi | ABVP members in JNU alleged portrait of Shivaji Maharaj was vandalised (19.02)

On the occasion of Shivaji Jayanti, we kept a portrait at student activity centre, but students from SFI threw it outside the room while garland was thrown in the dustbin: JNU ABVP Secretary pic.twitter.com/kuY7i0Izbw — ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2023

The ABVP Secretary urged the JNU administration to take strict action against the accused and stop the miscreants from disrupting the university atmosphere. "We request the JNU administration to take strict action against the accused. We also urge the administration to stop illegal students from entering the campus and creating a nuisance. These people should be stopped from bringing a bad name to the university," Ajmera added.