JNU to rename central library after Ambedkar, roads on visionaries

Having decided to rename its central library after BR Ambedkar, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is planning to christen the roads on campus after visionaries, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Ram Manohar Lohia.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the university’s Executive Council (EC), the statutory decision-making body, last week. “It has been decided to rename the various roads on the sprawling campus after certain visionaries such as Ram Manohar Lohia and Jawaharlal Nehru,” an EC member said.

“The council has given its approval for renaming them but the names are yet to be decided. A panel may be constituted to take a call on the list of visionaries after which the roads will be renamed,” he added.

The university had recently decided to rename the central library as BR Ambedkar Library, following demands from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) student wing Akhil Bharaitya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The ABVP, which is locked in an ideological battle with the Left-backed groups on campus, had in April demanded that a statue of the architect of the Constitution be installed on campus. The university gave its nod to the renaming of the central library as BR Ambedkar Library last Tuesday.

“The proposal to rename the library was approved unanimously,” an Executive Council member said.

The ABVP had written to President Pranab Mukherjee and the Human Resource Development Ministry, seeking the renaming of the library after Ambedkar, the convention centre after APJ Abdul Kalam and the stadium ground after freedom fighter Birsa Munda.

The EC members, however, said that they had received no proposal about the convention centre or the stadium and if it came, the EC would debilitate on the matter.