Blackened bust of Savarkar installed by ABVP-led DUSU at DU: NSUI

The Congress-affiliated NSUI on Thursday said it blackened the bust of Veer Savarkar while garlanding the busts of Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose installed by the ABVP-led Delhi University students' union at the varsity.

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad-led Delhi University Students' Union had installed the busts on Tuesday outside the Arts faculty.

The National Students' Union of India and the Left-backed All India Students' Association had criticised the move, saying Savarkar cannot be kept on the same pedestal as that of Bose and Singh.

Around midnight, 20 NSUI activists blackened the bust of Savarkar and offered a shoe chain to it, the NSUI said.

They also raised slogans Bhagat Singh and Bose amar rahe (long live).

NSUI Delhi wing president Akshay Lakra said, "How could they have put the bust of Savarkar along side Bose and Bhagat Singh, that too overnight. We had to take matter in our hands. The university administration has been silent about the issue. The varsity is working at the behest of ABVP, the child unit of RSS."