India Orders Universities To Display Large Flags After Protests
India's Hindu nationalist government on Thursday ordered major universities to prominently display the country's flag at a time when it is struggling to contain the largest nationwide student protests in a quarter of a century. All 46 centrally-funded universities have agreed to display the flags after a meeting chaired by Education Minister Smriti Irani, the government said in a statement. The decree follows angry demonstrations across university campuses this week after a student was arrested for sedition. Protesters accuse the government of attempting to muzzle free speech. Kanhaiya Kumar, head of the student union at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, was arrested after attending a rally to commemorate the anniversary of the execution of Kashmiri separatist last week. The police and government say the student's jailing is right because his behaviour was anti-India. But his arrest has become a cause célèbre among opposition parties who complain India is increasingly intolerant under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected in 2014. The largest student protests have taken place at Jawaharlal Nehru University, an institution that will have to display the new flag because it is centrally funded.
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