123456 Kolkata: Jadavpur University administration's graffiti clean-up drive on Tuesday chose to stay out of contentious areas and instead focused on erasing non-controversial slogans and paintings. Labourers were seen whitewashing a writing on the wall of JU's chemical engineering building, which students say was written during the 2019 elections.
Many on the campus tried to comprehend the need to remove a writing that was there since 2019 and had not created any problem. Students keep a wary eye on graffiti removal and said that it is an attempt to stifle voices of dissent.
However, the graffiti on ‘Azad Kashmir' on the walls of Technology Bhavan, which prompted Kolkata Police to start cases under stringent sections, was still there on Tuesday.
JU decided to formulate a mechanism to identify graffiti that can be permitted on the campus and remove ‘objectionable' graffiti during an administrative meeting on March 17, which was attended by interim VC, pro-VC, and registrar. But on Tuesday, interim VC Bhaskar Gupta said, "Under the current context, all graffiti will be removed from the walls of JU. It is part of a beautification drive. We will allot a graffiti wall for students to draw graffiti."
Philosophy department student Anugna Roy said, "It is an attempt to suppress our protesting voices. Moreover, the university always cites an acute fund crunch whenever we talk about cleaner toilets, proper lab facilities, but now where is the money coming from for whitewashing graffiti? JU has a lot of beautiful graffiti, sending out social messages, and it adds to JU's character."
According to film studies department student Anushna Das, the administration feels that writing slogans or drawing graffiti is "vandalising the walls." "They also previously removed posters and drawings from the walls of Aurobindo Bhavan, but that has not deterred us from drawing graffiti. We will put up graffiti on the whitewashed wall soon."
An engineering student, Debarghya Jash, feels, "Graffiti has always been a tool for protest. There is a lot of beautiful graffiti on the campus. Removing them will not only signify curbing dissenting voices but authorities' stand against art too."
The authorities on Monday erased slogans that were written against education minister Bratya Basu from the walls of Aurobindo Bhavan, after the March 1 incident of campus violence. Graffiti of injured student Indranuj Roy and former student Sahil Ali, who was arrested, was removed from the walls of Aurobindo Bhavan. MSID:: 119487978 413 |