Student politics is democracy’s classroom. History testifies that students who emerged from student politics have made a significant contribution in politics and in a time where dynasty/family politics is prevalent, the student leaders are becoming thorns for such politicians. For this very reason, student politics is banned in many universities and they are hatching plots to ban it in other universities.
When political parties are not able to put a leash/ ban on such student organisations, they resort to police actions by raising false allegations against them. From the Occupy UGC movement to mobilization against the institutionalised murder of Dalit research scholar Rohit vermula, these resistance have shaken the roots of the government. Perplexed and stung, the government has been on its haunches to retaliate. The organising of the Afzal Guru anniversary was the opportunity government was in pursuit of , and they didn’t leave anything behind in getting started.
But, they are utterly mistaken that students of JNU will get scared of police action. The arrest of student leader Kanhayya Kumar has not dented, but has given new enthusiasm and zeal, to the movement.
Hafiz meeruti says,
Aabad rahenge veerane, shadab rahenge zanjeere
Jab tak deewane zinda hain, falengee failengee zanjeere
Aazadi ka darwaza bhi ab khud hi kholenge zanjeere
Tukde tukde ho jayenge, jab had se badh jayenge zanjeere
(Desolate places will remain populous, prisons(chains) will remain succulent
Chains (slavery) will thrive until the crazy people are alive
Chains will themselves open the gates of freedom now
They will shatter into pieces if the limits (of atrocities) will be crossed.)
It is surprising and perplexing that the ideology which has contributed to de-stabilising the unity and integrity of the nation are today labelling people and they are passing certificates of National and Anti-national. People who are behind Babri, Kandhamal, and Gujarat and Mauzzafarnagar riots and other communal violence activities are at the helm of affairs today and are hell bent on taking revenge on the people who raised voice against the politics of hate and venom.
The arrest of student union president and other students has taken place without proper enquiry of alleged anti-India and pro-Pakistan sloganeering and this action depicts foolishness of both the government and the police. From the YouTube videos it can be clearly concluded that it was members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) members who were involved in sloganeering, but police and media have purposely neglected this angle and are trying to depict it from a different point of view.
The capitalists and their media have been taunting that JNU students are wasting tax payers’ money by indulging in anti-national activities, this is a clear evidence of the feudal mind-set, and they want their tax money to be spent on “- after studying, students becomes slave to what they say, and do what only pleases them (capitalists) and do what is right for them, but in a democracy, this mentality is not only inhuman, but also illogical”.
Should we point out that government bank loans worth Rs one lakh, fourteen thousand crores have been waived off, an amount larger than the sum allocation for the total educational budget! The TV channels wherein they are shouting their lungs out and taunting the poor students, do they dare to ask why government banks loan of One lakh, fourteen thousand was waived off? Whose money was it? And how did you come to the conclusion that education is funded by your tax’s blessing and your business is run only by your hard work., what you are giving to the country and the contribution of students to the country, do not even get into that.
If the government is for the people, by the people, then why are industrialists getting lakhs and crores, lands at throwaway prices. Then people of this country have a right to ask, when on my property your business is flourishing, then even I must get a share in it. Many private hospitals were granted lands, so that they may serve the needy and the poor, and some places were allocated for setting up universities and colleges, so that it may serve the general masses of the country, but today we clearly know who the beneficiaries of these institutions are.
Is it a pre-requisite that students of JNU and other universities remain silent and shut off on any political issues? That they don’t have any opinion on government policies or they shouldn’t express it. And instances where they express their views, they ought to be deemed as anti-nationals. Is it spelled out in our constitution that students who secure scholarship have to agree with all the government policies? And the biggest of all questions, who and how did one decide that universities of the country are organising anti-national activities and that in JNU government money is being wasted and the tax payers money is being misused? Is applying the principles studied in the books to society and country a futile exercise? If it is, than what is fruitful.
Or the bigger question, is it for political supremacy that they are ready to cross hymn any lines, be it the student fraternity, the one who raises questions, who reads, who thinks with an open mind are all deemed anti-nationals?
The capitalists who invest in education, invest only after seeing profit and loss, and even in their educational institutions, we know how much deliberations are done on socio-political environment of the country. But unfortunately, in today’s institutions, the atmosphere to think freely, discuss, deliberate and debate are seen in terms of profit and loss, the thinking that everyone should think alike, or we will close down such institution. If it is not a fascist ideology, then what is?
We must not forget that the students of this very university had taken sticks and beatings during the time of Emergency. Here, struggle for rights of poor and backward community has moved from the roads to books and parliament policies. In the last hours of night, there are lively discussions on poverty and illiteracy when the people who slip paying tax money are sleeping merrily on their comfy beds. While students visit village after village to ascertain the right of labourers, the people who see the world through the lens of profit and loss, consider it a futile exercise.
The media-persons who are shouting and screaming that the university is a hub of anti-national activities should spend some time in the campus, and should closely look at the politics there. The reality is that considering that Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon were wrongly hanged wouldn’t cease the unity of the country. If mother India could speak, she would denounce the self-professed nationalists who discriminate against one billion families by terming them as anti-nationals or as terrorists and against Dalits. Some are tortured because they are Muslims, and thrown behind bars as part of a political game. If India is a mother, then her one billion children would have equal rights. If anyone forcefully expresses likes and dislikes of mother country, then we have total rights to protect our mother country’s dignity and integrity.
“O mother, those who burnt alive the Dalits Adivasis and Muslims are anti-national
Say, that those who drove your kids to suicide are anti nationals
O my mother country say that those who kept screaming and sent Kanhayya kumar to jail are your culprits
Say the killers of Rohit vermula are your criminals”
