NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party MP and singer Hans Raj Hans has suggested that Jawaharlal Nehru University be renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The students union at the varsity labelled his comment as “unfortunate”.
“Pray that we all live in peace and no bombing takes place. I would say we should rename JNU after Prime Minister Narendra Modi as MNU. Something should be named after Modi ji,” Hans said on Saturday during an event at the university. He was referring to the Centre’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Hans also criticised the Nehru-Gandhi family while speaking on Kashmir. “We are facing the brunt of mistakes committed by our elders,” he said.
The JNU Students Union president, S Balaji, was sarcastic about the BJP MP’s remark. Balaji said the suggested renaming would be “ideal” as the BJP-led central government under Modi had “only delivered jumlas for students”.
“It’s unfortunate that he didn’t talk about about the `515 crore HEFA (Higher Education Financing Agency) loan, massive hostel crisis, 80 per cent budget cut in the library and other anti-student policies. When libraries are empty without books, walls are barren without posters, minds are rigged with hate, it might sound ideal to name (JNU) after Modi, under whose aegis these policies of destruction have been implemented,” Balaji said.
“Public universities are being closed down to start foreign universities in India. Fellowships are not given to students so that they move to private universities. We are only destroying learning and critical thinking,” he added. He further said that teachers and students were “being attacked for wanting to teach and learn”.
ABVP organised event
The BJP MP was speaking during an event organised by the BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The chief of BJP’s Delhi unit, Manoj Tiwari, was also present.