New Delhi: Left-leaning student groups at Jawaharlal Nehru University have accused the ABVP of inciting communal tensions by depicting former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as Ravana during a Ravan Dahan on Vijayadashami. According to them, the act was a calculated attempt to exploit religion and promote Islamophobia.

A violent confrontation erupted on Thursday between student groups on the JNU campus during a ‘Visarjan Shobha Yatra’ organised for Vijayadashami.
 

In their statement, JNUSU said, “On October 2, the ABVP once again exposed its communal agenda by staging a Ravan Dahan in which former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were depicted as Ravan. This was a deliberate attempt to exploit religion and spread Islamophobia. Umar and Sharjeel have been imprisoned for five years. Their cases are still under trial, and bail has been repeatedly denied on flimsy grounds. Yet the ABVP chose to hold a public trial on the streets.”

JNUSU also accused the ABVP and RSS of turning religion into a political weapon and rejected claims that they had opposed Durga Puja.

They challenged the ABVP to present evidence for their claims, calling them baseless and stating no such protest occurred.

“The RSS and ABVP have a long record of weaponising religion against political opponents. In 1945, the RSS magazine Agrani carried a cartoon portraying Gandhi, Nehru, and Maulana Azad as Ravana, while Savarkar and Syama Prasad Mukherjee were shown as Rama. Nathuram Godse, Gandhi’s killer, sat on that editorial board. They pelted stones, waved sandals and tried to intimidate us. When outnumbered, they fled and began spreading the lie that JNUSU was protesting against Durga Puja. This is an utter lie. Just like many other festivals, Durga Puja has been celebrated by student groups across campus for the last many days. No instance of any violence or disruption was reported at any point. We challenge ABVP to present a single shred of evidence to support their claim. They cannot, because it never happened,” the statement read.

Earlier, JNUSU joint secretary Vaibhav Meena said that the symbolic Ravan Dahan had been intended to target what he described as “Naxal‑like forces”. According to him, effigies and photographs of individuals associated with alleged Naxal ideologies—including Afzal Guru, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, G Sai Baba and Charu Majumdar—were burned.

“Today, on Vijayadashami, JNUSU had given a call that we would perform the 'dahan' of Naxal‑like Ravan, of naxal forces. The nine-day Durga Puja of Navratri is also observed at JNU. Immersion of the idol is done on Vijayadashami. So, a 'Shobha Yatra' was also being taken out. First, 'Ravan Dahan' was done at Sabarmati with photos of all Naxal leaders, and those with Naxal ideology like Afzal Guru, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, G Sai Baba, Charu Majumdar,” he said.

ANI