A Disturbing Canvas: When Walls at ISI Kolkata Became a Medium for Hate and History's Ghosts

There's a saying, isn't there, about walls having ears? But sometimes, just sometimes, they gain a voice — and what a disturbing voice it can be. That's precisely what unfolded recently at the revered Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata, where the silent brickwork of academia was suddenly plastered with something far more sinister than academic posters or lost-and-found notices.

Graffiti, you see. Not just any graffiti, mind you, but words scrawled in Bengali and English that sent a genuine chill down the spine, creating an immediate, uncomfortable ripple through the institute's otherwise quiet halls. The messages were jarring, accusing, and perhaps most provocatively, they brazenly laid claim to a truly horrific piece of history: the 1990 Red Fort blast.

Now, to suggest that a group calling itself 'Nishant, Raj, Rakesh' was responsible for a decades-old terror attack, and to do so on the walls of a prestigious academic institution — well, it's a claim that is, frankly, audacious to the point of being bewildering. The audacity, however, didn't stop there. These same defaced walls also bore the inflammatory terms 'Hindutva' and 'Sanatan,' seemingly an attempt to weave a narrative of hate and division into the very fabric of the incident.

One might wonder, what was the intent here? Was it a bizarre prank, a desperate cry for attention, or something far more malicious, aimed at stirring communal disharmony? Regardless of the motive, the impact was immediate. The administration at ISI Kolkata, understandably, moved with swift precision. They've assembled a three-member fact-finding committee, a dedicated team tasked with peeling back the layers of this strange occurrence, trying to understand who did this and, importantly, why.

Narayan Chandra Manna, the registrar, confirmed this move, indicating the gravity with which the institute views the matter. After all, the walls of an academic institution are meant to inspire, to educate, not to broadcast messages of hate and false claims of terror. But the institute isn't alone in its quest for answers; the long arm of the law has also become involved. The local Jadavpur Police Station has, in truth, already registered an FIR (First Information Report), initiating their own thorough investigation into the graffiti and its unsettling claims.

This incident, in a way, transcends mere vandalism. It’s a stark reminder that even within the hallowed grounds of learning, public spaces can, regrettably, become battlegrounds for provocative and often deeply misleading messages. And so, as the committees delve and the police probe, the question remains: what truth, if any, lies behind these disturbing whispers on the walls of ISI Kolkata?