From the last few years, we have seen a series of events of statues unveiling in the different parts of the country. There are situations where the government has spent hundreds of crores in this aspect. Now, years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arranged a program of unveiling a life-size statue of the modern history’s legend Swami Vivekananda. As per the official sources, the statue will be unveiled on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Thursday. And the event will be carried forward through video conferences.
Getting into the details, the event is scheduled exactly at 6:30 PM as per the statement from the university. Things took a bad turn after the students of the university called out on organizing a protest at the North Gate at a mere 5 PM. Around the same time, a poster came out quoting some controversial sentences like ‘go back’, further demanding an explanation from the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The protest gathering is against “the anti-education and anti-student Mogi government”, reads the poster. It may be recalled that JNU students have been constantly attacking the JNU administration over the construction of the statue, alleging a waste of funds.
Sunny Dhiman, a JNU student said, “Finally, Mr Modi is going to visit JNU (virtually). The BJP and the RSS hate JNU and colour it as anti-national, tukde tukde gang leader. In October 2016, we had burnt PM Modi’s effigy. Today, all over India, farmers are burning his effigy. It would be the greatest disservice to the soul of Swami Vivekananda if PM Modi fails to address the problems of farmers (sic).”
Meanwhile, Vishnu Prasad, another student said that the priorities of the Modi government were wrong. “We are not against the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, but the priorities must be noted here. Ever since this government has come, they have been attacking the very idea of JNU.
They have been consistently increasing the cost of academic activities. They have been wasting money on unnecessary things,” he added.
Amid all of this, PM Modi tweeted, “At 6:30 this evening, will unveil a statue of Swami Vivekananda at the JNU campus and share my thoughts on the occasion. The program will be held via video conferencing. I look forward to the program this evening.”
At 6:30 this evening, will unveil a statue of Swami Vivekananda at the JNU campus and share my thoughts on the occasion. The programme will be held via video conferencing. I look forward to the programme this evening.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 12, 2020
The statement from the university added that the unveiling event will start to post a program on Swami Vivekananda which will be for one hour from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
