Confusion prevails over removal of freedom fighters' bust from DU

New Delhi: Confusion prevailed, on Saturday, over the overnight removal of the busts of Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose from outside the Arts faculty of Delhi University’s North Campus.

While the RSS-affiliated ABVP claimed in a statement that the busts were removed by the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), the student outfit’s member and outgoing president Shakti Singh accused the varsity administration of removing the same.

A senior functionary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), however, said the outfit wants that the busts be installed with due permission and with pomp and show, not silently.

Mr Singh, meanwhile, alleged that “some students” in collusion with the administration were behind this move and he would protest against this.

The ABVP claimed that the Delhi University has assured them the busts will be reinstalled in accordance with the procedure after the DUSU polls are concluded on September 12.

The busts of the three freedom fighters were installed on August 20 by Mr Singh without taking permission from the varsity authorities. They were removed on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday around 1.30 am.

The students’ body also demanded “stringent legal action” against members of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) for allegedly blackening Savarkar’s bust on Thursday.

The ABVP claimed the Left-affiliated student organisation, along with AAP’s CYSS and the NSUI, had “stooped to a low level” and were harming the “culture of debate and discussion prevalent in the university.”