JNU VC demands tank on campus: Jagadesh Kumar defends statement, says alumni wanted military symbol

A day after JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar proposed installing a battle tank on the campus to instill nationalism, he said that the suggestion had come from the alumni. ANI reported that alumni had sought a symbol showing the relationship between defence institutes and JNU.

These alumni said why not have kind of symbol on campus, it could be tank/aeroplane/ship/other symbol signifying link b/w JNU & them: JNU VC pic.twitter.com/BWr1hTlkJ4

— ANI (@ANI) July 26, 2017

He also defended the proposal by saying that he considers the alumni from various defence academic institutes which have a close association with the university as the alumni of the university as well.  This comes after Kumar’s remarks on Sunday at an event marking the anniversary of ‘Kargil Vijay Divas’, created a controversy.  Speaking to ANI, Kumar said, “The  National Defence Academy where cadets from Army, Navy and Air Force are trained and their degrees are given by us. So, every candidate who passes out of these institutes is alumni of JNU. So, if we have a decommissioned tank, for example, in our varsity then it will only show our stronger and closer association with the defence institutes in this country.” While it brought forth a debate on nationalism and whether this installation meant imposing it, this is not the first time that Kumar has pushed for tanks on campus.  In February 2016,  some students were arrested over allegations of sedition for raising anti-national slogans. After the incident damaged JNU’s reputation, the administration pushed for instilling nationalism among students by flying the tricolour and by installing tanks.