NEW DELHI: As the election season appears on the horizon, an increase in political mobilisations is witnessed around Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The students’ organizations have begun to reclaim their spaces on the walls with paintings, posters and graffiti – each deeply thought-provoking.
Among Students Federation of India (SFI), All India Students Association (AISA), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) and other student outfits, there is a surge of activism as election returns on campus after three years owing to the pandemic.
Some posters depict students’ demands to withdraw NEP 2020 and HEFA loans, others show party-specific ideologies. The students who have been a part of the political activism on the campus are already on their toes. Rishika, a student, tells, “The students are glad that the ‘parcha-poster-protest culture is back at JNU after such a long time. The walls across the campus have already given colour to the campus politics.”
However, it has already sparked a poster battle on the campus primarily between the SFI and ABVP. The SFI leaders alleged that the ABVP members spoiled their artwork on the campus walls and urged the students to repel such forces that foster hatred and seek to tear apart the very fabric of creative thinking.
One of the students, Ananya Kumar said, “ABVP is only good at one thing, to vandalize and terrorize the student community and destroy the culture of participatory democracy that JNU stands for. This has been the fate of universities where they lead BHU, DU all have anti-student policies and are filled up with regressive policies of the admin-ABVP nexus. We should not let the same happen in JNU.”
One of the SFI activists said, “JNU SFI unit put in an immense amount of hard work and ideation to come up with each artwork. The wall posters are reflections of our ideology. The organization that has commited vandalism should be ashamed of their inability to respect the democratic ethos and incapacity to value art.” “Reject the malicious attempt of ABVP to intimidate student activists and destroy JNU’s culture of wall posters,” he further added.
