Hans Raj Hans, a singer and BJP MP representing North West Delhi, has suggested that Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) be renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

At a musical event organised by the RSS’s student arm Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad at JNU on Saturday night, news agency Asian News International quoted Hans as saying: “Dua karo sab aman se rahein, bomb na chale…. Hamare buzurgon ne galatiyan ki hain hum bhugat rahe hain…. Main kehta hoon iska naam MNU kar do, Modiji ke naam pe bhi to kuch hona chahiye….” (Pray that everyone remains peaceful. We are paying for the mistakes of our ancestors. I suggest we name it MNU. There should be something in Modi’s name too.)

Hans, earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress, is a first-time MP who joined the BJP just before the Lok Sabha polls.

He performed at JNU along with North East Delhi BJP MP and Bhojpuri performer Manoj Tiwari and singer Dinesh “Nirhua” Yadav at the Ek Shaam Shaheedon ke Naam event.

Hans is the second BJP MP to demand that the Left-dominated varsity be renamed. In 2015, before being nominated to the Rajya Sabha, Subramanian Swamy had suggested to the government that the varsity be renamed after Subhash Chandra Bose.

JNU has been in the crosshairs of Right-wing forces since a “poetry reading” on the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in 2016. The Delhi government is yet to grant sanction to prosecute students for sedition for the incident, and a magisterial probe had found several TV videos of the event to be doctored.