Moa Jamir
Like the proverbial phoenix arising from the ashes of its predecessor, Kanhaiya Kumar, the President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) has risen from frying pan of sedition charge to a triumphant return to his alma mater on March 3 capping with remarkable speech which many consider has turned the table on the ongoing debate on curtailment of freedom of speech in India.
Arrested last month by the Delhi Police and booked under the charges of sedition for allegedly raising anti-India slogans at an event on February 9 inside JNU campus, Kanhaiya along with the institution was equally vilified and beaten in the process and the controversy erupted into a full-fledged attack on everything that is JNU.
Armed with a witty sarcasm and brutal honesty with a sagacity of a seasoned statesman, his oratory skill as Andrew Whitehead, a former BBC correspondent wrote was “spell-binding, warm-hearted, engaging”. Whitehead added that when a student political leader is streamed live on TV across the nation for fully three-quarters-of-an-hour, and trends on social media not just in India but well beyond, then you know something remarkable is stirring.
We want azaadi from oppression, from corruption, from manuvad, from discrimination, from fascism, from the RSS. We want freedom not from India but from those who loot India, Kanhaiya asserted in his electrifying speech. “We are not asking for freedom from India, we are asking for freedom in India. This is a crucial distinction,” he said, espousing his full faith in socialism, secularism, and equality guaranteed in the constitution of India.
Thus, as noted by many, he defended ‘brute nationalism with a constitutional patriotism.’
However, the narratives preceding the event a concerted effort by ‘power that be’ and certain media outlets launching an utmost attack to disgrace and malign the whole institution in guise of ‘Nationalism.’ The attacks on academic institution, nonetheless, has not been a one-off affair. The IIT-Madras, Hyderabad Central University, FTII and many other institutions have borne the weight of systematic right-wing attack over the recent past.
“An act of tyranny”, Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote in The Indian Express. “The government does not want to just crush dissent; it wants to crush thinking, as its repeated assaults on universities demonstrate.”
However, JNU was in its radar for a long time and a golden opportunity was bestowed by February 9 event. Certain quarters, envious of its democratic and liberal atmosphere and affronted by the questioning of existing narratives and the hierarchal status quo, were waiting for an opportune moment to raise the cudgel of ‘anti-nationalism’ to exact its revenge.
For as early as November 2015, RSS mouthpiece "Panchjanya" had alleged that Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is home to "a huge anti-national block which has the aim of disintegrating India."
Since February 9, another RSS mouthpiece Organiser has started a campaign called, “Detoxifying JNU” and “Reform Agenda for JNU” in serious of articles purportedly written by former students of JNU.
“JNU Professors are not teachers they are the recruiting personnel for ultras...they have vandalised the intellectual infrastructure of the university in the name of democracy and freedom of expression,” an article in the magazine alleged. In another cover story, it quoted Sunil Ambekar, National Organising Secretary of ABVP, from an interview given to an economic national daily, “We must set some norms for this as to how far one can go on freedom of expression.”
On the other side of the debate, Prof. Partha Chatterjee of Columbia University argued in The Telegraph that, “The absurdity of bringing sedition charges for speech uttered inside a university is so egregious that it defies comprehension.”
Likewise, commenting on the state of affairs unfolding over the recent past, the Economist on March 5 noted that the damage to India’s image is painful. “Faith in the police and other institutions has been undermined. Vigilante violence has seemed to win official backing.” The government of Narendra Modi seeks to define Indian patriotism, and to own it, it noted.
The University is often accused of engendering ‘rebellious’ and radical interpretation of different issues and questioning of the mainstream narrative. But the very essence of the University is to enable such possibilities. “In that case, the university might as well be declared dead; instead, let the government build national seminaries designed to produce patriotic morons,” Chatterjee argued.
In the midst of all the concentred attack, the remarkable solidarity from the students, alumni and others shows that the plans to crush the voice of struggle in this country will be met with equal resistance, not necessarily with brute force but with mechanism grounded on democratic ethos and values. Kanhaiya’s speech has ignited and composed new song for freedom.
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