On Monday night, students of IIT Bombay held protests against the vandalism of soon-to-be inaugurated statue of Swami Vivekananda on JNU campus last week.

The protest meet at IIT Bombay took place at around 6:45 PM. Speaking to OpIndia, students who did not want to be identified fearing reprisals from some left-leaning faculty who teach at HSS (Humanities and Social Sciences) department of the leading tech institute in India said the protests were against the hatred that is being spread and use of ill means to hamper with Swami Vivekananda’s statue.

A PhD scholar at the IIT Bombay spoke about how Swami Vivekananda’s biography played an important part in him taking up science. “My father is a farmer and I had no access to books. But during my school days I remember a professor emphasising on the statement “you are infinite” by Swami Vivekananda ji. I think that statement changed my life completely,” he said.

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A BTech student talked about how Swami Vivekananda played an integral part in highlighting India on world map. “A person who is universally accepted cannot be denied his space by some pseudo intellectuals trying to demean everything that culturally unites us,” she said.

A post-doc fellow at the HSS said that there is a necessity of Swami Vivekananda’s thoughts in today’s India. Emphasising on what happened in JNU to be morally, ethically unacceptable to students across spectrums he urged them to read Swami Vivekananda’s works before doing something so inherently intolerant in nature.

Read: 9/11 1893 and 2001: Here is why Swami Vivekananda must be read by followers of all religions, especially Islam

JNU students are protesting against administration regarding the hostel fee hike. The agitating students have also resorted to taking law into their own hands and even kept a professor in illegal captivity inside classroom.