The Students Federation of India (SFI) Union of Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, received harsh criticism for demeaning the national flag and Bharat Mata in posters for their arts festival, Cankama 2024. The divisive posters were eventually taken down as the campus demonstrations intensified.
The provocative posters, which were put up throughout campus, featured a nude lady covered in a ripped national flag and infuriated both activists and students. On 20 June, the posters were initially displayed, but Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists removed them. Despite this, the police and university officials helped the anti-national SFI cadre to replace the posters.
As the posters resurfaced in the morning, the ABVP increased their protest by submitting a complaint to the university’s Vice-Chancellor (VC). The VC responded that the student council (SFI Union) needed to deliberate and decide on the subject. They reminded him that the country pays his salary.
In addition to the provocative portrayal of the national flag, the posters featured sliced watermelons with the festival’s name, alluding to a Hamas connection. Sliced watermelon images are used as a symbol of support for Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists. Posters of the fruit also appear during demonstrations that signal political dissent.
The ABVP’s leadership criticised the university’s VC for approving the posters. NCT Srihari, an ABVP Central Working Committee member, stated that if anti-nationals continue to harm the country’s prestige while profiting from it, the VC should resign.
Vincent Mathew, the present Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Kerala, has completed an M.Sc. in Physics. His research areas include theoretical condensed matter physics, photonics and computational physics.
SFI leaders turn militant when confronted with logic and have a history of intimidating anyone who opposes their vile and wild ways. The communists have filled up teaching staff in Kerala universities with Marxist cronies. Some brave ones have tried to unmask the SFI, only to end up with their allowances/pensions held up or worse.
The Cancama arts festival is set to run from 26 June to 29 June.
Anti-Bharat, anti-Hindu posters of religious extremism in nature are a regular feature in Kerala’s colleges. This is what an SFI poster appeared in the Government Brennen College (Kannur) and the Government ITI college in Malampuzha had to say in 2020.
“This India is not my country. These scoundrels are not my brothers and sisters. I do not love a country like this, nor do I take any pride in this country in the present situation. I feel ashamed to live with these terrorists in such an atmosphere in India.”
When it triggered mass condemnation, the SFI claimed innocence and ‘condemned’ the incident. Local police registered a case for provocation with intent to cause a riot, and that was it.
In 2022, The Union Christian College’s (UC College) Centennial Vista 2022 celebrations in Aluva, Ernakulam district, openly offended Hindu religious sentiments. The constitution with a picture of Dr Ambedkar on it was placed on a chair over our religious scriptures, such as Thirukkural, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Shiva Purana, which was done deliberately to insult Hindus. Other religious scriptures like the Bible and the Quran were missing from the so-called artwork.
In 2021, under the pretext of inviting newcomers to the college campus, the SFI plastered obscene, anti-Hindutva, anti-national ‘paintings’ that glamorised jihad in the Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur.
One depicted a couple kissing with barbed wire running between them. It suggested a border fence between the two countries, and a helmeted soldier guarding the wall on the other side of the border is seen kissing a woman on this side of the border. The suggestion was crystal clear: Bharat & Pakistan. The caption abused national sovereignty and read, ‘F**k your nationalism.’
One poster tried to glorify the ‘save Palestine’ cause where a Palestinian is seen facing armed security personnel, holding a stone. The writings hoped for Israeli doom at the hands of the jihadi elements. The SFI promised solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Of course, there was the obligatory ‘art’ championing BLM, another lampooning the PM & FM and a morbid portrayal of a lotus (BJP’ssymbol) growing in a pond with dead bodies floating.
Though those posters were similarly removed in haste, Deepa Nishant, an assistant college professor, publicly backed the SFI.
In February, the University of Kerala, a state-run public university in Thiruvananthapuram, named its arts festival ‘’intifada’’ Intifada is the name of jihad waged by Palestinian Islamic terrorists against Israel. This includes terrorism and violence. The merits of naming a cultural event where art and music go hand in hand were questioned.
