The authorities cancelled the Onam program at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which was to be held by left-wing student organisations in support of Hamas, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by different States. The program was cancelled at a stage where Vamana, an avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu, was draped with the Palestinian flag in connection with the program, which would cause tension on the campus.
A group of Malayalee students of JNU responded that the original Onam was in August, and it has been two months now that Onam is being held with the aim of the upcoming campus elections.
Onam is the most important cultural festival of Kerala, which has been celebrated for centuries. Hindus celebrate Onam in association with the Vamana incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu. However, Onam is celebrated as a cultural festival in Kerala, irrespective of caste and religion. It is also recorded that Onam was celebrated in various parts of Bharat in ancient times. Therefore, People who speak other languages also participate in Onam celebrations outside Kerala.
In October, a group of students from Kerala studying at JNU met in secret and decided to celebrate Onam. Last year’s open meeting was held secretly this time. Later, it turned out that a group of Malayali students working in JNU student organisations like SFI, DSU and AISA secretly organised this meeting to exploit Onam politically.
They decided to use the cultural festival of Onam to support the activities of the terrorist organisation Hamas in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. To this end, they put up a poster depicting Bhagwan Vamana, an incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu, wearing the Palestinian flag. Many countries around the world have declared Hamas as an Islamic terrorist organisation. If philanthropy is the goal, they should have declared solidarity with the 1,400 people, including children, who lost their lives in the Hamas attacks in Israel. Because every festival in Bharat is driven by love for humanity. But using Onam only to show solidarity with Hamas, a terrorist organisation, is reprehensible.
Activists of banned Islamic terrorist organisations like the Popular Front of India in Kerala work in this way by being part of other student organisations on the campus. Their aim is to destroy the integrity of India. Similarly, they want to divide the students of the JNU campus on the basis of religion, caste and region. In this era of united Bharat, the student community should also reject the attempts to divide JNU students into Hindus, Muslims, North Indians, South Indians and North East Indians.
It is narrow-minded to use Onam, which is celebrated by all irrespective of caste-religion-region, for the upcoming campus election. Everyone agrees that Onam should be celebrated as Onam; mixing it with politics and terrorism can never be acceptable.
