Burning Modi effigy in JNU: Row exposes BJP and Congress' double standards

The controversy over anti-national slogans and the arrest of former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar has hardly settled down, when yet another storm has brought  Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the limelight again.

While across the country effigies of Ravana were burnt, some JNU students chose to celebrate the occasion in a different way on campus.

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Congress-affiliated students' body, burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Besides the faces of Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Nathuram Godse, the effigies had faces of yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Asaram Bapu and JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar. The burning took place at the famous Saraswati Dhaba on the campus.

Sunny Diman, who was NSUI’s presidential candidate in the recently-concluded students’ union election, defended the act by saying: “The effigy-burning was to symbolise our dissatisfaction with the current government. The idea is to root out the evil from governance and bring about a system that is pro-student and pro-people.”

BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) called it an anti-national move, claiming it was planned after the surgical strikes by India against Pakistan. The university said it was "investigating the matter".

The JNU administration had last week ordered an inquiry into the effigy-burning of leaders in the Gujarat government and "gau-rakshaks" (cow vigilantes), and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned. So, a similar notice may be in store for the NSUI students.

So, is burning of effigies illegal? Have NSUI students defied the law by burning effigies of the PM and others? Dhiman calls it part and parcel of JNU. He says: "Earlier, we had burnt an effigy of Modi on the campus premises and nothing happened. Effigy burnings are routine in JNU... no permission is needed for them."

The BJP is furious and is aiming its attack at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Reacting to the incident, BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said: "This incident, coupled with 'Bharat ki barbadi' slogan raised at JNU and the support extended by Rahul Gandhi, only shows the Congress's crass culture. The Congress, in its criticism of BJP and PM Modi, has resorted to anti-national acts on matters concerning national security and terrorism."

While the BJP is firing from all cylinders, Congress leaders are being cautious. Burning effigies is a normal way of protest in India, but depicting the PM as Ravana could be crossing the line.

Almost 1,200km away from JNU, a hoarding in Ranchi's Doranda shows Durga slaying three leaders and has a caption which reads - “Mother slaying Kalyugi Mahishasur”. It depicts Rahul Gandhi, former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and Delhi CM  Arvind Kejriwal as the demon king Mahishasur.

Neither the hoarding has any name nor has anyone claimed responsibility for it. But it has created a political storm in the state. State Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat thinks the miscreants, who put up the hoarding, may have the government’s support.

Congress leaders have condemned the act and say that dragging religion into politics shows the level to which some fringe outfits have stooped. They also want the state government to take strict action against those who installed the hoarding.

So, the point is, if the depiction of Rahul as Mahishasur is not acceptable to the Congress in Jharkhand, how can it justify burning of effigies of PM Modi as Ravana? And similarly, if BJP-ruled Jharkhand doesn't take action against those who put up the hoarding in Ranchi, how can  BJP demand action against NSUI leaders in JNU?

Aren't both following double standards?

Also read: Modi, the avenger of Uri, plays Lord Ram in Lucknow