JNU EVENTS HARDEN STANCE OF SANGH PARIVAR
By Amulya Ganguli
It is rare for the National Human Rights Commission to intervene in the affairs of a university. If it has nevertheless done so following renewed unrest in Hyderabad central university, the reason is the BJP’s inability to deal with disaffected youths.
The party knows only one way to tackle disgruntled elements. It is by using force either by its own followers as the lawyers close to the BJP did in the Patiala House Court in New Delhi when they beat up the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader, Kanhaiya Kumar.
Or by using the police as when former Delhi police commissioner, B.S. Bassi, considered close to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, brushed aside the incidents of assault on Kanhaiya Kumar and the threats to senior lawyers as “minor scuffles” or “jostling”.
The same pattern has been seen in Hyderabad where the commission has noted the “highhanded” conduct of the police and university officials. At the time of Rohith Vemula’s suicide in the university, such highhandedness was also on display, including the suspension of students and the stoppage of their stipends.
Rohith’s tragic death pushed the university authorities, including the vice-chancellor, Appa Rao Podile – Smriti Irani’s “poodle”? – on to the back foot with Appa Rao’s decision to go on temporary leave. His return has now sparked off fresh trouble.
Any government sensitive to the sentiments of the students would have advised the unpopular vice-chancellor to stay away for a longer period or found him another position – as it has done with other RSS apparatchiki like Y.S. Rao in the Indian Council of Historical Research or Gajendra Chauhan in the Film and Television Institute.
But the government evidently regards the students as well as all those who disagree with it as anti-nationals and, therefore, deserving harsh treatment. It has used the colonial-era sedition law against the rebellious JNU students, though with limited success. In Hyderabad, it wants to impose its writ which includes propping up a puppet in the vice-chancellor’s office.
As Arun Jaitley’s recent comments show, the government is not only engaged in an “ideological war” with the purported anti-nationals, but even believes that it is winning since some of its opponents have had to say, Jai Hind, though not Bharat Mata ki Jai (BMkJ), the slogan which is the Hindutva parivar’s litmus test for patriotism.
Evidently, unless all the suspects say BMkJ, the sword of sedition will hang over their heads. The only one who will escape unscathed with flying colours are the students affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the BJP’s student wing.
Considering that polarization is the avowed goal of the Sangh parivar, it is not surprising that the BJP is applying the same divisive methods as it does to Hindu-Muslim relations to the student community as well. But unlike in the cases of communal incidents, where the deaths of suspected beef-eaters or innocent cattle-herders do not faze the saffron brotherhood, the students belong to a different category.
The BJP runs the risk, therefore, of becoming mired in greater trouble unless it realizes that it has to be far more circumspect in dealing with students, especially because, fortuitously for them, the student community has thrown up several talented speakers like Kanhaiya Kumar (who has made it to India Today magazine’s list of “powerful” people), Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.
The last two have been called “highly educated” by a Delhi sessions court, which is trying them for sedition. It is a description which cannot be applied to most of the saffron politicians. Rohith himself was similarly gifted before his life was tragically cut short.
One reason why the BJP has had a free run till now is that it did not face effective speakers. Manmohan Singh doesn’t speak at all. Sonia Gandhi reads haltingly from a paper and, while Rahul may have perked up considerably since his 57-day sabbatical a year ago, there is still something contrived about his belligerence. He is not a natural orator like the new kids on the JNU block.
Their disadvantage, however, is that they are far too young to be taken seriously. Besides, they do not yet belong to a party despite their ideological thrust. Their Leftism, too, is dated, as it recalls the period when the Soviet Union still existed and China did not believe with Deng Xiaoping that “to get rich is glorious”.
Their political innocence can still seem attractive because of the absence of any taint of party affiliation. But since the ultimate confrontation in a democracy is between different political parties, lone rangers cannot go too far.
Yet, they can make a worthwhile contribution to mainstream politics with their talent for making effective political points with a mixture of humour and sarcasm. Already, they have put the ABVP on the defensive despite its official backing. Moreover, their candour and intelligence have led to questions being raised about the sedition law with the government promising to take a fresh look at it.
What the government considered a handy stick in its hands to beat all those who opposed it, ranging from Hardik Patel to Kanhaiya Kumar, has become a blunt instrument because the JNU and Hyderabad central university have produced students of extraordinary calibre at a time when politicians are generally disliked for their cynicism and chicanery.
(IPA Service)