A JU student draws a graffiti with Tagore’s lines and portrait
“If they whitewash one wall, we shall write on 10 walls. Because like Porco, we, too, refuse to be cowed by fascists, we chose this character. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kolkata | Silver Rate in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata | Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Petrol Price in Kolkata | Diesel Price in Kolkata | CNG Price in Kolkata | LPG Price in Kolkata Stay updated with the latest Kolkata news.
Kolkata: Students at Jadavpur University on Monday “reclaimed” campus walls by painting graffiti that mixed nationalism with resistance to beat the anti-national tag. The students drew portraits of Rabindranath Tagore , Bhagat Singh, Pritilata Waddedar and Sardar Udham Singh and wrote slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “Long Live Resistance” on walls across the campus in protest against a drive by the authorities to whitewash “offensive” graffiti following an ultimatum from CM Suvendu Adhikari on Friday. Armed with paint and brushes, the students set off on their “reclaim the wall” mission around 3pm on Monday, a day after ABVP demanded that the authorities continue their drive to erase graffiti that the RSS-affiliate considered offensive. SFI supporters on the campus painted a portrait of Tagore and wrote the lines from his poem ‘Dhormomoho’ (The Illusion of Religion), “Dharmer beshe moho jare eshe dhore/Ondho shey jon mare aar sudhu morey (When illusion under the guise of religion takes over a soul/ That blind wretch is forever doomed, to kill or be killed)”, at gate number 4. Referring to a slice of watermelon drawn beside the lines, sociology student Anubhab Gupta said, “It is a global symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause. “Ideas Are bulletproof” and “Long Live Resistance” were written on walls behind Meghnad Saha Bhavan where the authorities had erased graffiti advocating the Palestinian cause last Saturday. Abhinaba Basu, secretary of SFI’s JU local committee, said, “Tagore’s writings are our weapons against fascism. It accompanies a quote, “Better a pig than a fascist”. History student Rijupalika Mukherjee said, “In the movie, Porco says the line when asked to join the nationalist air force under Mussolini’s fascist regime. Nikhil Das, president of ABVP’s JU unit, said, “Slogans such as ‘Free Palestine’ should not be written on campus. The campus and its walls belong to students, said chemical engineering student Nabab.
The colours of the sliced watermelon — red, black, white and green — mirror the Palestinian flag. ‘Free Palestine’ is a universal demand. Raising the demand does not make one an anti-national. A portrait of revolutionary Bhagat Singh was drawn on a wall of Dr HL Roy Building where a mural of Charlie Chaplin and the words “Fascism is not to be debated. It is to be smashed” were whitewashed. Another wall where slogans and graffiti were removed now bears a mural of freedom fighter Pritilata Waddedar. Tagore has always preferred harmony and internationalism to narrow nationalism… Students are constantly being labelled anti-national. We want to assert that we have learnt patriotism from Bhagat Singh, Khudiram Bose, Pritilata Waddedar and Sardar Uddham Singh. A graffiti drawn by AAO members depicts Porco, a pig from Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film ‘Porco Rosso’. The VC, registrar and pro-VC must resign if they fail to ensure that. And we ask no compassion from you. When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror”. Every wall on this campus will be a blackboard of resistance politics. Download the TOI App.
The drive to reclaim the walls started on Sunday night when a group of students chose a wall where the authorities had erased a slogan against fascism to reproduce Karl Marx’s lines: “We have no compassion.
The lines written on walls are: “But if I become hungry/ The occupier’s flesh will be my food/ Beware…/ Beware…/ Of my hunger / And my anger.” Art Against Oppression (AAO), a cultural organisation of JU students, wrote an excerpt from ‘Identity Card’, a poem by Palestinian author and poet Mahmoud Darwish that calls for Palestinian freedom and resistance to displacement and systemic oppression.