By Ananya S Guha
A film actor who was refused a visa to attend a literary festival in Pakistan, now goes on the rampage. He wants to visit NIT Srinagar which is now in the midst of a controversy with students polarized into ‘ locals’ and ‘ outsiders’. Thank God it is not a Hindu versus Muslim spat. But the writing on the wall is clear. True, what happened there, (apparently some students expressed happiness after India lost in the T-20), will be unpalatable to some, if not many, but how many students did it? Was it a reflection of all ‘ local ‘ students so much so that orchestrated reaction took place leading to one event after another? Not one student could play the role of mediator or peacemaker. Instead students from outside the state started demanding security and shifting the Institution out etc. This is absurd. You cannot relocate Central Institutions like that. And to support that demand, especially by public figures is reprehensible to say the least. These are national institutions, maybe located regionally, but the idea is to give affordable education to both locals and non locals. Even when they were called Regional Engineering Colleges, they had a national character. Students would be there from all over the country. Now the funding and infrastructure has improved because of Central intervention. But to say, because of this one episode that an entire Institution has to be shifted to pander to some select sentiments, abetted by intellectuals and political pretenders, is taking things to the limits. Adopting confrontationist attitudes does no good to an institution. ‘Who is mightier,’ seems to be the message. Why are we trying to use students as pawns to further our rabid tendencies? The double-speak is that, those who say that students should be studying are now meeting them to express solidarity with their cause. The pro-Pakistan stances of the people of Kashmir is a familiar narrative so why were there no protests all these years? Why now?
And when the film actor is rightly denied entry for his noble crusade, our traditional media blows this out of proportions and makes it a larger than life story! What dramatic fiction this! And the paradox- the Government in Kashmir is a PDP-BJP combine while the maverick actor’s wife is a member of the BJP! I think enough is enough, politicians and para politicians should not meddle with politics. Nor should academics come out with nonsensical suggestions that a Central Government institution should be shifted, thereby creating divisions, demarcations, the vicious ‘ us ‘ and ‘ them ‘ syndrome- of pure animosity. How long will we sow seeds of hatred in our country? How long will our efforts to make fractious societies continue and that too by educated people, who could have made vital contributions to nation building?
Many say that a student’s sole duty is to study. This is very well taken, but then actors should not extend their theatrics in politics. The controversies in Indian universities continues unabated. Everyone knows that Kashmir is a sensitive point and that after the clash between two groups of students, things have gone murkier not only in Kashmir, but in the entire context of India. Shouting pro- Pakistan slogans in cricket matches had happened earlier, but this time it happened after the JNU episode where apparently pro Pakistan slogans were also mouthed. Every university or academic institution has its own internal administration to deal with issues and tackle students’ outbursts. The administrations of both JNU and NIT failed by giving an opportunity to absurd politics and ‘ theatre’. Then comes the demand that the NIT must be shifted, thereby complicating matters further and polarizing the local students and those coming from different parts of the country.
Majoritarian views are important, but minorities in the country are integral to the country and their voices matter. That is not to say that the culpable in any incident must not be punished. The paradox about the NIT Kashmir incident is that of the paradox of politics in the country. We must understand that. And that is why the HRD Minister is categorical that the Institute cannot be shifted! Educational institutions should have their internal mechanisms for dealing with student problems, and if here students are polarized on the basis of caste and religion, it is the internal administration through its mechanisms, its rules and regulations, its acts and statutes which must probe into them and make inquiries. Otherwise what is the point of having Vice Chancellors and Deans? Once the matter goes out of hand and is hijacked by politicians, or would be/ could be politicians, irrespective of their political allegiances, then we are allowing politics to exploit the educational system by making students pawns in their hands. If students are politically and socially conscious as they should be then it is up to the university to give them that freedom of speech within its precincts. True in the JNU incident on 9th February ‘ outsiders ‘ intruded but till date we do not know who they were and are! The University mechanism of controlling activities within its campus has obviously not worked.
But coming back to NIT in Kashmir it is preposterous to even a suggest shifting the campus. Why are we trying to set in more alienation in the people’s minds regarding a battered, suffering state? The political situation apart, an NIT there functions like an NIT anywhere in the country. Singling it out is to give a clear message that it should not be located there because of the state and the people!