A day after a car-bomb explosion killed at least 13 people in the heart of the national capital, anti-Muslim graffiti saying “Muslims and dogs should not enter the premises” and “No dogs and Muslims” was found at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) campus in Kolkata.

The graffiti was found at the main boys’ hostel in the institute’s CV Raman Hall, which houses those pursuing graduation and postgraduation courses at ISI and is situated in Baranagar, about 30 km north of Kolkata. Founded by Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in Kolkata in 1931, ISI is among the premier higher education centres in the country and has been an ‘Institution of National Importance’ since 1959. It has branches in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Tezpur.

On Tuesday, November 11, boarders woke up in the morning to find hateful graffiti targeting Muslims written on both sides of the main entrance door of the hostel. On one side of the door, the words “dogs should not enter the premises” were already written with black paint for years. Someone had added “Muslims &” on top of it with a white chalk. On the other side of the door, “No Muslim allowed” was written twice and just “No Muslim” once.

The words “the only place for Muslims” were found written on a dustbin kept on the north east corner of the second floor of the hostel.

That’s not all. The railing of the hostel’s east-wing staircase was defaced with the words, “No Dogs and Muslims”.

On November 10, an explosive-laden private vehicle blew up near the Red Fort in Delhi around 6.50 pm killing at least eight people instantly. According to preliminary probe, the vehicle was being driven by a physician from south Kashmir’s Pulwama named Umar un-Nabi, who taught at Al-falah Medical College in Faridabad. Nabi, investigators suspect, was part of a Jaish-e-Muhammed terror module comprising other doctors.

As is often the case with such incidents, various sketchy details about the blast trickled in till late on Monday night, triggering conflicting reports.

ISI hostel boarders Alt News spoke to said the graffiti on the main door was written some time between 6.30 and 7.30 am on Tuesday. “Our friends who went out for tea around 6.30 am did not notice the words. Many of us study all night before exams and go out for tea very early. However, those who got out a little late, around 7.30 in the morning, noticed the writings on the door.”

The images were posted on a common WhatsApp group (where students across disciplines and batches are members) on Tuesday morning itself. “Whoever did this was requested to own up and apologize. However, no one responded,” a student said.

Institute’s Response

Later in the day, students approached the administration with a verbal complaint. ISI Kolkata director Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, dean Biswabrata Pradhan and hostel warden Subhamoy Maitra, accompanied by a handful of students from the general affairs committee, inspected the graffiti. The director condemned the act publicly, students told Alt News.

The general affairs or GA committee of a hostel is the closest thing to a students’ body on the campus. There is no practice of student-union election at ISIs. Members of the GA committee are generally selected from the senior-most batch.

Later, a written complaint was also filed with the institute administration.

“We sought an investigation to find out who was behind the incident. There is a CCTV camera near the hostel gate which might have captured the perpetrator. We wanted to see the footage. This was denied by the administration, though they promised to look into the matter. They also said a sensitization programme could be organized with compulsory attendance for students,” a student told Alt News.

Alt News has also learnt from its sources that the director wanted the objectionable graffiti to be erased after the inspection, to which students objected.

On November 12, a group of 10 students comprising research scholars and UG-PG students met the dean, Biswabrata Pradhan, and sought an official response on the matter. “He spoke about holding seminars to sensitize students some time in January. And he also stressed that a guard had been placed at the hostel gate. This was all the steps the institute thought of taking in 36 hours following the inicident. When asked about a proper inquiry, he said only the director could take a call on that,” a student who was part of the team told Alt News.

The dean also promised that the institute would issue a statement. However, no such official statement was issued till the late evening of November 12.

When contacted by Alt News, Pradhan refused to comment on the matter. “Only the institute head can speak on this,” he said. Calls to director Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay went unanswered.

Alt News also spoke to Muslim students on the campus. All of them said they had never felt any discrimination at ISI on the basis of their faith. “There might be one or two who would pass an occasional comment, but that’s just a reflection of what is happening all over the country. But no collective feeling of hate. Never,” said one of them. While most of them sought the perpetrator to be punished, some said whoever did it needed to be counselled.

Alumni React with Shock

Reacting to the news with shock, ISI Kolkata alumnus and CPI(ML) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharyya said, “Even the government did not seem to be sure if the Lal Qila blast was an accident or an act of terror, and here is an institution of higher education and research linking the blast to a religious community. I know ISI is having to fight for its own autonomy, but these are disturbing signs of decay of a reputed organisation. I hope the ISI community takes note and overcomes it before it is too late.”

Srijan Sengupta, another ex-student who is an associate professor of statistics at North Carolina State University, said, “I am deeply shocked and horrified to see these hateful words defacing the walls of the ISI boys’ hostel. To me, this incident is a tragic reflection of how divisive and toxic narratives circulating in society are seeping into the minds of the young and bright, those from whom we expect intellectual curiosity, empathy, and critical thought.”

Sengupta urged the authorities to “respond with both seriousness and sensitivity. While identifying those responsible is important and necessary, in my opinion it is even more important to understand and address the social environment within the hostel that allowed such hatred to take root.”

The graffiti fiasco comes amidst a raging debate on the campus over the proposed ISI Bill, which has been seen by many as an attempt to curb the institute’s administrative and academic autonomy. On Wednesday, a meeting was held just outside the main gate of the campus in protest against the proposed Bill.

The post ‘No dogs and Muslims’: Day after Delhi blast, ISI Kolkata boys’ hostel defaced with hateful graffiti appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.