Jadavpur University students have painted graffiti and written slogans on the walls of the university’s administrative headquarters within days of the walls being rid of them as part of an ostensible beautification drive.
The students wrote “authorized graffiti area” on the portico of Aurobindo Bhavan, the university’s administrative headquarters, which was covered with a coat of whitewash.
The university had erased slogans like “Arrest Bratya Basu”.
The calls to arrest the education minister were raised by Left and ultra-Left students who had barricaded the education minister when he came to the campus on March 1, demanding an immediate announcement of students’ union elections.
When a besieged education minister tried to leave the campus, his car allegedly hit a student who was physically trying to prevent him from leaving.
This incident triggered the call to arrest the minister.
On Thursday, students rewrote the slogan “Arrest Bratya Basu” on the same portions of the wall that had been cleaned.
Anushna Das, a postgraduate student who climbed atop Basu’s car on March 1, said they had “reclaimed the walls”.
“In the name of a beautification drive, the JU authorities were trying to snatch our right to protest by painting graffiti and writing slogans. We have reclaimed the walls and defended our right to protest. When a protesting student comes under the wheel of an education minister on the campus, we will write slogans demanding his arrest on every wall of the university,” said Das.
Metro had reported the whitewashing drive on Tuesday.
The students on Thursday painted the walls with slogans that read: “You can paint walls, but can’t erase my ideas.”
The drive was supposed to be extended to Technology Bhavan where a wall said “Azad Kashmir”, which prompted Kolkata Police to start cases under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and 152 (acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).
“But that is unlikely to happen as the walls that had been whitewashed have been reclaimed. Besides, Calcutta High Court’s Thursday order asking the state government to come up with a clear stand on resuming the campus polls has emboldened the students,” said a JU official.