Hindu Sena puts up saffron flags, banners at JNU main gate

A right-wing group on Friday put up banners and saffron flags near the main gate of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, days after two student groups clashed over-serving of meat in one of its messes.

The Hindu Sena also warned of ”stringent steps” if there is an ”insult to saffron”. Police said it removed the flags and banners and registered a case under the act related to defacement of property.

“On Friday morning, it came to our notice that some flags and banners were put up on the road and adjoining areas of JNU. These were seized and a case under section 3 of Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act 2007 was registered,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Manoj C said.

”During investigation … three persons who were involved in the offence were bound down as per legal procedure and the vehicle used in commission of offence has been seized.

Further investigation is under progress,” he added. The procedure doesn’t involve detention or arrest of the accused nor does it require filing of any charges. Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta admitted that the posters reading ”Bhagwa JNU” were put up by the outfit’s national vice-president Surjit Singh Yadav.

In a video circulated on WhatsApp, Gupta warned students against insulting the saffron. ”Saffron is being insulted in the JNU campus on a regular basis. We want to warn those who are doing this. Mend your ways. We won’t tolerate this,” he said in a Hindi video.

”We respect your ideology and every religion. But the insult to saffron will not be tolerated and we might take stringent steps,” he said, without explaining the “insult”.

In a statement, the right wing outfit said that police shouldn’t rush to take down the flags as it was not some “symbol of terror”. “It is a right under the law to protect saffron and Hindutva,” it said.

The JNU unit of Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) said that JNU will never become a symbol of religious majoritarianism.

”JNU will always stand for an egalitarian, plural, inclusive, progressive, multicultural society where people have the fundamental right to choose for themselves.

“JNU-NSUI strongly condemns the posters and flags put up by the so-called Hindu Sena,” the group said.

With the help of Delhi Administration, the NSUI got these flags removed from the main gate area of the university, it said. Two groups of students clashed at JNU’s Kaveri Hostel on Sunday allegedly over serving of non-vegetarian food there on Ram Navami.

Police said 20 students were injured in the violence, while the students claimed the number was somewhere around 60. The JNU Students’ Union accused the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members of stopping students from eating non-vegetarian food in the hostel mess and ”create a violent atmosphere”.

The ABVP in its turn denied the charge and claimed that the ”leftists” obstructed a puja programme organised at the hostel on Ram Navami and that led to the confrontation.

(With inputs from IANS)