Jamia graffiti row: BJP leader alleges foreign plot without evidence; Congress MP detained

Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Sunday accused the Congress and the INDIA alliance of encouraging what he called anti-national activity, alleging that graffiti on the walls of Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia was part of a foreign-sponsored conspiracy to destabilise the country. He did not present evidence to support the claim.

Speaking to the news agency ANI, Rao said radical networks within student groups were being backed by opposition parties, and that the campus demonstrations were intended to create unrest. "Writing on the walls of Jamia Millia University in Delhi, all these things are now being exposed because there are people who are part of the 'Tukde-Tukde' gang and anti-national gangs who are among the students, and they are in support of Sharjeel Imam," he said, using a phrase that BJP leaders frequently invoke against opponents accused of working against national unity.

Sharjeel Imam, a former research scholar, is an accused in several cases linked to speeches he made during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020. The cases are being heard in court.

Targeting the Congress and other INDIA alliance parties over their alleged silence on the controversy, Rao said the opposition was encouraging students to act against national interests. "This slogan shows that the Congress and the INDIA alliance, which are silent on this issue, show how they are inciting students and everyone in the country to go against the interests of the nation and indulge in anti-national activities," he said. He further alleged that the protests were sponsored from abroad and aimed at creating anarchy.

The remarks come amid heightened tension at Jamia, where the university administration recently shifted classes to an online format, citing student safety during continuing demonstrations on campus.

Congress MP Imran Masood, who visited the university on Friday to meet protesting students, rejected the allegation that slogans calling for a "free Kashmir" were raised during the demonstrations. Delhi Police detained him during the visit.

"No slogans calling for a 'free Kashmir' were raised there, not a single one. I stood up in front of everyone and strongly condemned such slogans, stating that Kashmir is an integral part of India," Masood told ANI.

Students have been holding a sit-in and a hunger strike since October 12, in what has become Jamia's largest student protest since the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The university has not had an elected students' union since 2006, when it was dissolved following violence on campus. It remains one of the few central universities in Delhi without an elected union, a point that has repeatedly featured in debates over how student grievances are represented and addressed.

The dispute has drawn in political leaders at a time when campus issues are increasingly being argued in national political terms. The BJP's allegation of foreign involvement and the Congress's denial of objectionable slogans are both public claims made by the parties concerned; no evidence of foreign funding or sponsorship has been made public so far, and no official finding has established it.

The university has not issued a detailed statement on the specific allegations raised by either side. The Delhi Police have also not announced the outcome of any inquiry into the graffiti or the slogans alleged to have been raised.

With the protest continuing and classes being held online, the immediate focus is on whether the university administration and the students can open a channel of dialogue, and whether the political row over the campus dispute eases or escalates in the coming days.