Unwelcomed and highly regrettable: JNU VC on defacing of Savarkar signboard inside campus

A day after VD Savarkar Marg signage at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was vandalised, varsity Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar on Tuesday condemned the incident, stating that such acts are "unwelcomed and highly regrettable."

New Delhi [India], Mar 17 : A day after VD Savarkar Marg signage at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was vandalised, varsity Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar on Tuesday condemned the incident, stating that such acts are "unwelcomed and highly regrettable."

"We can have disagreements in terms of ideas but defacement is not something that one should indulge in. But unfortunately, some of our students are now damaging public properties. Such things are unwelcomed," said Kumar while speaking to .

"The naming of different roads in JNU campus, which is more than 1000 acres, has been approved by the Executive Council based on the recommendations of the campus development committee in 2016. During the last two years, several roads have been named after great personalities. This is highly regrettable," he said.

The road name board has been cleaned and round the clock guard has been posted.

The VD Savarkar Marg signage at JNU on Monday night was defaced and the name of BR Ambedkar was spray-painted on it.The university administration has named a road in the campus after Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar.ABVP President Shivam Chaurasia had said that it is unfortunate that the incident happened."It is very unfortunate that the incident took place. We have asked the administration to take the cognizance in the matter," Chaurasia had said.Sunny Dhiman, a PhD student, who is also in Congress party, criticised the administration for naming streets at a time when the country is facing a crisis like coronavirus."When the country is dealing with coronavirus, JNU vice-chancellor is busy with changing names of roads. That too he is choosing such controversial names. Savarkar had talked about dividing the country on the basis of religion. We do not need a controversial figure like Savarkar. We don't know who did this," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )