Kolkata: Jadavpur University (JU), the hotbed of protests, responded: The wider industry impact

2 workers removed the graffiti under the watch of three JU staff members JU Graffiti today — TOI

An engineering student, who chose anonymity, said, “The university chose to whitewash the graffiti on a day when students will not be present on the campus. Film studies dept assistant professor Manas Ghosh said, “In all good university campuses around the world, various kinds of radical slogans are written. The students and the organisations are being pragmatic and weighing their steps so that none of our action leads to backlash or targeting of individuals. ” Anubhab Gupta, a sociology student, said, “The authorities always succumb to external political pressure and erase the graffiti to avoid controversy. We have always resisted repression through murals, graffiti and artwork and this time, too, we will reclaim and paint the walls again. ” A university official said, “When the CM of the state has directed us to remove those graffiti, we do not have an option. A staff member added, “We have spoken to the students, made them understand the situation and then undertook the clean-up operation.”

On a regular day, we could have urged the authorities not to erase every graffiti. But the truth is that at present no one is in a condition to protest and show resistance physically. The way the university and the students are being attacked and targeted is unfortunate. It is an uneven fight for us. Many students are being threatened. Already, FIRs have been filed against students. So we need to stay calm and cannot do anything that will invite a backlash. This is the beauty of a university campus. It shouldn’t be always thought of in the paradigm of statism or nationalism. English dept student Indranuj Ray explained, “The ground reality is not very conducive. But, we chose not to take such steps. They did the same thing last time. We heard that our CM has called the walls of JU ‘anti-national’ and we apprehended that the graffiti, mural will be removed.

Students, hostel boarders and organisations could have gone and resisted the authorities’ move today as they were also removing some non-controversial graffiti.

Students are therefore thinking twice before making a move against the authorities. Another English dept student, Udita Bedajna, feels, “The chronology of events in the past week has exposed the political situation. The way teachers and students, especially female students are being identified and targeted on social media and are being shamed has instilled a fear among many. FIRs and police complaints have also been filed against students and teachers. However, those of us, who are not intimidated, see the whitewashed walls as clear canvas to start a new set of art work.”

Students and teachers were alerted of the clean-up but their cautious response or lack of it was a reflection of the mood prevailing on the ground. Kolkata: Jadavpur University (JU), the hotbed of protests, responded with stunned silence after the clean-up operation of graffiti on Saturday.