Jadavpur University students use ex-PM Vajpayee’s remark to justify ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti

Students of Jadavpur University on Thursday (September 3, 2026) put up a poster in the campus of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remark on the territorial integrity of Palestine.Only a day before, the administration whitewashed all the graffiti from the walls of the university after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari directed the university administration to take action against the ‘anti-national’ graffiti painted on the walls, including the ones demanding freedom of Palestine and Kashmir, and also slogans on shooting the fascists.The poster of the former Prime Minister was put up at the green zone area of the university, in which the ex-PM said, “Israel must return the lands of Arabs it has occupied. The lawful rights of the Palestinians must be established.” The statement was made by Mr. Vajpayee in 1977 at a public meeting in Delhi shortly after the Janata Party government came to power for the first time. He was then given the charge of the External Affairs Ministry. At the bottom of the poster, credit was given to the “nationalist students of Jadavpur University”. A QR code linked to Mr. Vajpayee’s full speech was also included in the poster.After the State CM’s directive on August 26, 2026, the university administration whitewashed all the graffiti across the main building, Aurobindo Bhaban, the Arts Hostel, and the Open-Air Theatre. However, the graffiti was repainted, which students claimed was an attempt to ‘reclaim’ the walls of the university.One of the freshly painted graffiti on Monday (August 31, 2026) quoted Karl Marx, saying, “We have no compassion, and we ask no compassion from you. When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror.”A day later, a group of police personnel and officials from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) arrived at the university at around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) and whitewashed all the graffiti on the walls of the JU campus. This included a portrait of artist Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, a painting on climate change, as well as the aforementioned statement of Marx, quotes from Ho Chi Minh, Urdu couplets, and more.However, the graffiti and the poster were back on the walls across the campus once again on Thursday (September 3, 2026).Apart from the former PM’s poster, a sarcastic graffiti on Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and the RSS was also painted to justify the ‘Azadi’ slogan, which was also termed as ‘anti-national’. This graffiti said, “Mussolini ko de di Azadi, RSS ko bhi de denge Azadi” (Mussolini was given freedom, so will be given to RSS as well). A few more sarcastic graffiti on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was also seen on Thursday (September 3, 2026).To counter the graffiti and posters by the Left students, the ABVP also put up photos and posters on Rabindranath Tagore, Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Vande Mataram across the campus on Thursday (September 3, 2026).However, on Thursday (September 3, 2026), the State CM further launched a scathing attack on the dissident voices within the university. “Bengal is the land of Netaji and Shyamaprasad. Swami Vivekananda was born in Kolkata. And on this land you will say ‘Kashmir maange azaadi’! There are no rallies when Pahalgam happens, but during Operation Sindoor, you say, Stop the war. Do we have to tolerate these things? You will write ‘Free Palestine’ on the walls of Jadavpur? Write ‘Free PoK’. I will support it,” he said, addressing the annual programme of Vivekananda Vidya Bharati Vikas Parishad, an RSS-affiliated organisation, at Ramakrishna Mission in Kolkata’s Golpark. Rallies by ABVP and Left studentsMeanwhile, the Left students took out a rally against the invitation of several BJP leaders, including Rahul Sinha, Swapan Dasgupta, and Tapas Roy, and also the Jadavpur MLA Sarbori Mukherjee at a ‘Nationalist Conference’ that took place at the Triguna Sen auditorium in the university. The event was organised by an organisation, Haripada Bharati Smritiraksha Samiti, in the afternoon. The students opposed the invitation of the BJP leaders inside the campus days after the clash erupted between the ABVP and Left students on August 20. Jadavpur University had emerged as the flashpoint of the right versus left politics after a group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Supporters forced themselves inside the university premises on August 19 and tried to tear posters and burn flags of the left student’s union. The university has been on the boil since then. “Ms. Mukherjee sent outsiders inside the campus who vandalised the university and set fire to the main building late at night. Why was she invited?,” asked the general secretary of the Students’ Federation of India, Srijan Bhattacharya, during the protest rally at 8B Bus Stand opposite to the University. He also added that the graffiti made by the students reflects the opinions of the public. “CM cannot decide which one of them is nationalist and anti-nationalist. If he thinks those are not the opinions of the common people, why doesn’t he conduct the students’ union election and let the students decide it through voting?”The ABVP supporters also held another rally inside the campus, carrying the national flag and uttering ‘Vande Mataram’. Calling the left students spoiling the environment of the university, they said that they have been pushing an anti-national mentality and don’t allow any other voices to be raised democratically.