Graffiti supporting Maoist leader at JU triggers controversy

Kolkata: Graffiti on a Jadavpur University wall in support of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju has triggered controversy, with the university’s Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (JUTMCP) demanding an immediate ban on the Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF), the organisation that created it.

The graffiti, reading “Long Live Com Basavraju, Gen Secretary, CPI (Maoist),” appeared near Milan Da’s canteen. Basavaraju, whose real name was Nambala Keshava Rao, was killed in a clash with security forces in Chhattisgarh on May 21 2025.

JUTMCP submitted a written complaint to the vice-chancellor’s office on Monday and followed it with an e-mail, alleging that RSF engages in “anti-constitutional activities” and that its posters and drawings amount to “provocation of open violence and criminal acts.” The complaint said the group was “intentionally radicalising students in the path of violent acts” and urged that RSF be banned as an operative student organisation and denied permission to hold any events in seminar halls, rooms and university spaces.

“If the authorities do not erase the graffiti by tomorrow, we will have to take that responsibility ourselves,” said JUTMCP president Kishalay Roy.

RSF leaders said the graffiti was created ahead of the organisation’s sixth state conference on November 24. RSF member Indranuj Ray told the media that commemorating Maoist leaders was not unlawful, citing a 2015 Kerala High Court observation that being a Maoist is not a crime.