The statue of Swami Vivekananda at the JNU campus

  •  Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually unveiled a life-sized statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on November 12.
  • JNUSU (JNU students' union), un response, planned to protest on campus. 
  • They believe the Modi government “openly supported” violence on campuses and is attacking universities with the National Education Policy which will result in fund cuts and privatization of education.
FUNDING CONTROVERSY
  • It was on June 30, 2017 that JNU’s Executive Council (EC) first gave approval for the statue. 
  • The administration said it was installing the statue to give the campus a more “pleasing look” as Vivekananda had contributed to “nation building”.
  • The administration remained mum on who was funding the statue and how much it would cost. 
  • Then JNU Students’ Union president N Sai Balaji filed several RTIs to know about the funding.
  • In January 2018, he filed an RTI seeking the total cost of construction of the statue as well as the source of its funding.
  • The university furnished evasive replies such as “no JNU funds are being used”.
  • On December 3, 2018, JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar, in a statement, said “one of its (JNU) alumni” was “voluntarily managing all the expenses involved in making and installation of the statue”. 
  • However, no details of the alumnus/alumna have been provided till date.

ALLEGED DEFACEMENT

  • In November 2019, the JNU administration filed a police complaint.
  • It said that the statue, which was covered by a saffron veil, had allegedly been defaced and messages were written “particularly directed towards a political party and a group of people donning saffron coloured clothes”.
  • The administration linked the “vandalism” with protests against hostel fee hike led by the JNUSU.
  • The JNUSU vehemently denied the charge.


SOURCE: IE

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