Home Ministry asks for report on burning of Modi's effigy on JNU campus

New Delhi: The home ministry has asked for a report on the burning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigies on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Tuesday.

The ministry asked the police to submit a detailed report on the effigy-burning by a section of students on Dussehra, which is celebrated with the symbolic burning of the demon king Ravana to depict his defeat by Lord Ram and the victory of good over evil.

The protest was allegedly organized by members of the Congress's student wing NSUI. The students also burnt effigies of BJP President Amit Shah, Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya and yoga teacher Baba Ramdev.

The JNU administration on Thursday ordered an inquiry into burning of effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others by a section of students in the university campus on the occasion of Dussehra by projecting them as Ravana.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the effigy burning incident and are examining the issue," said JNU Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, whose picture was also put on the effigy set ablaze on Tuesday night.

The move comes nearly a week after the varsity ordered a proctorial inquiry into burning of effigy of Gujarat government and 'gau-rakshak' (cow vigilantes) and issued show-cause notices to the students concerned.

While Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and heads of several other militant organisations were the faces of Ravana effigies burnt on

Dussehra across the country, members of Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) chose the visages of PM and BJP chief Amit Shah to represent the demon king and burnt the effigy on Tuesday.

They claimed that it was a protest against the Centre's "failure" to honour its promises and the "continuous attacks" on various educational institutions across the country.

While university officials maintained that no permission was sought for the event, the organisers claimed that effigy burning was a "routine" thing on campus and did not require permission from the administration.

Besides Modi and Shah, the effigy had faces of Yoga guru Ramdev, Sadhvi Pragya, Nathuram Godse, Asaram Bapu and the Vice-Chancellor. The students also carried placards with the slogan, 'Truth shall prevail over evil'.