ABVP, the RSS‑linked student wing, has accused JNU students of scrawling the slogans ‘Free Umar Khalid’ and ‘Long Live Naxalbari’ on the university’s walls in Delhi, sparking a campus‑wide debate about campus safety.
The group also says that AISA national president Neha Bora raised slogans supporting Khalid during a recent gathering, a claim that has drawn sharp criticism from the university’s administrators.
Mayank Panchal, president of ABVP’s JNU unit, warned that writing such slogans next to the portrait of Hindutva icon V.D. Savarkar cannot be defended as freedom of expression, insisting the administration “must identify those responsible and take action.”
JNU’s unit secretary Praveen Piyush argued that the campus is not a fiefdom of any single ideology and that vandalising public property is not in the best interests of students.
A similar wave of slogans appeared on walls at Jamia Millia Islamia, where students and faculty protested over the re‑introduction of student union elections, with student Abin Basil claiming the slogans were planted by university authorities to pressure the student body.
ABVP has called on JNU to investigate the incident and remove the slogans, threatening further protests if the administration does not act, while Delhi universities grapple with mounting pressure from student unions and political groups.