New Delhi: “Jaise munni badnaam hui, waise hi JNU badnaam hui,” said Shri Shriniwas, national joint organising secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), referring to the famous Bollywood song from the film Dabangg. BJP MP Hans Raj Hans added that the Jawaharlal Nehru University should now be renamed after the ‘saintly’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Both were speaking at an Independence Day celebration called ‘Ek shaam shaheedon ke naam’, organised by the ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, at the JNU campus Saturday.
The campus also reverberated with songs like ‘Jiya ho Bihar ke lala’ ‘Dil tote tote ho gaya’ and ‘Jugal jodi’ — the last of which was dedicated to PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Around 600 people attended the event, consisting mostly of students from JNU and Delhi University. The chief guests at the event were entertainers-turned-BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari and Hans Raj Hans, as well as party leader and Bhojpuri superstar Nirahua.
The ABVP was hosting this event for the fourth consecutive year, having decided to start after the university was labelled ‘anti-national’ by a section of Right-wing groups and individuals, following the events of February 2016, when pro-Afzal Guru and pro-Kashmiri independence slogans were allegedly raised on campus. Organisers claimed patriotic songs would outweigh the teachings of Lenin and Marx in the university, which is considered one of the last bastions of the Left in India.
Also read: Freethought, politics & love: Charting Nirmala Sitharaman & S Jaishankar’s JNU days
‘Rename it MNU’
The master of ceremonies, ABVP JNU vice-president Sujit Sharma, began the programme with slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram‘.
The guests arrived two hours late, but in the meantime, ABVP members kept the audience engaged by making remarks about “buddhijeevi” (intellectuals) and the “tukde-tukde gang”.
Once they did arrive, the politicians were introduced as great entertainers — Tiwari and Nirahua both act and sing, while Hans Raj Hans is a popular Punjabi singer. Introducing Tiwari, ABVP’s Sharma called him a “former Bhojpuri singer”, something the North-East Delhi MP has lost his temper at in the past. But this time, Tiwari was pleased to be called that. Tiwari had also attended the programme in 2018.
Hans, the North-West Delhi MP, rued that he never got a chance to visit JNU before. He even said it should be named after ‘saintly’ PM Modi, suggesting it should be called MNU — though he didn’t clarify what that would stand for.
The three guests also showcased some personal camaraderie — at one point, Tiwari said he had some pictures of Hans that he would release after they retired from politics, though he hastened to add that these weren’t “aise-waise” photos.
The leaders later said that JNU should be known as the alma mater of cabinet ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar, and not for the “tukde-tukde gang”.
Nationalistic fervour
ABVP’s Sharma promised that JNU would hold the torch of nationalism high. He also talked about the lakhs of people who sacrificed their lives for freedom, and encouraged the youth to learn “kathor tapasya” (hard penance) from Veer Savarkar.
The ABVP’s national joint organising secretary Shri Shriniwas also addressed the students in the audience ahead of the JNU Students’ Union elections, saying: “Rickshaw-wala Nirahua took a flight from Patna and reached here because of his love for JNU. Children, you have to write a new chapter this election. The whole country is rejoicing; you have to change JNU now.
“This tukde-tukde gang should have been called out when they stopped Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam from entering the campus. But this gang is given a befitting reply by Giriraj Singh ji in Bihar (referring to the defeat of former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar’s defeat in Begusarai).”
Left, NSUI missing
Left-wing student parties and the Congress-affiliated NSUI were missing from the event.
NSUI member Prashant Kumar told ThePrint: “We don’t need to learn patriotism from people who sing about chunri and kamar.”
AISA member and former JNUSU vice-president Simone Zoya Khan alleged that the event was organised to “lure” the batch of freshers. “The ABVP is supported by the vice-chancellor and the administration. It takes four-five days to book the convention centre for other parties, but for ABVP, just a few hours.”
Commenting on the complete boycott of Left parties, Manish Jangid of ABVP said: “One is free to attend this event. We haven’t personally invited anyone. But the anti-nationals are missing.”
Also read: ABVP forces Karnataka college lecturer to kneel & apologise for ‘anti-national’ FB post
When Hindus become strong, Muslims and pro-Muslim Hindu-traitors feel weak in their knees.
Is this the only thing Indians are left to watch?
Let destiny decide where Modi stand in the hierarchy of PMs. But of course, you can rename it after Veer Savarkar. Better a Savarkar than a Nehru for most Indias, any day! 🙂
What kind of students leaders. Is this institution of higher learning or a place to settle political scores who is right, center or left. If JNU is Munni Badnam Hui Darling Tayray Liyay?
Let him die first, we will name after him.