Should student politics be banned in India?
The recent developments on JNU campus have raised serious questions whether student activism in Universities should be encouraged or not. Karnataka banned student unions in 1989–90 based on a court order that held the unions responsible for caste-based violence on campuses. The ban has been in place for nearly 30 years. In the past, many universities have imposed a temporary ban to contain violence on campus.
In June 2016, HRD had rejected TSR Subramanian Committee’s recommendation (while the formulation of ‘New Education Policy 2016’) to ban student politics on university campuses. The Committee had suggested derecognizing student groups based “explicitly on caste and religion” and also restrict the period for which students can stay on campus. The report suggested:
Most of the disruptive activities on the campus are led by students who remain enrolled for many more years than normally required to pursue the course of study for which they have enrolled. The main interest of such students is not to pursue learning but to use the hostel and fellowship facilities to follow a political agenda.
JNU UPROAR OVER FEE HIKE
JNU is largely funded by University Grants Commission (UGC). Its housing fees was incredibly low ranging between Rs.27,600-Rs.32,000 per year, until the proposed hike. Disregarding inflation, the fee structure has not been revised in 19 years, as a result of which, the university faces a funding deficit of over $1.6 million.
Following massive protests from all student unions(including ABVP), the Internal High Level Committee recommended bringing the fee down by 50% and 75% for students below the poverty line. Despite this, students remain adamant. The demand has been for a complete rollback of the proposed hike and not just one for the most disadvantaged reflects the sense of entitlement among the protesting students.
Those pursuing MPhils and PhDs are entitled to scholarships. In 2017–18, a total of 4,594 students were enrolled in these programs. They receive Rs.35,000 monthly as housing allowance in case they don’t use the hostel facilities. Read “These Are The JNU Research Studies That The Indian Taxpayer Is Paying For.” It is laughable that such topics are accepted for research. How does this ‘meaningful research’ help in nation-building? The fee hike was inevitable as a high-ranking university can’t subsist on outdated valuations.
The priority of any student belonging to a low-income family would be to complete his education and find a job at the earliest instead of involving oneself in campus politics, stalling classes in protest by risking to lose an entire academic year. (read about it here)
JNU professor Makarand Paranjape rightly said “Bogus socialism combined with a sorry sense of entitlement do not qualify as a legitimate basis for protest.”
JNU STUDENTS VIOLATED HIGH COURT ORDER
On August 9, 2017 the Delhi High Court had ruled out an order saying that students cannot hold demonstrations within a 100-meter periphery of the university’s administrative block. This court order came after JNU administration had alleged that the administrative building would often be blocked by the agitating students during protests.
A JNU circular dated August 23, 2018 also prohibits any protest within 100 meter limit from the administrative block and academic complex and warns of appropriate action in case of any violation.The agitating students violated this order and JNU moved court in November 2019 to sought a contempt notice against the student leaders involved.
Watch JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh along with other students stopping Anand Ranganathan, a JNU Professor from entering the Lab-
In another video from outside the server room, former JNUSU President and AISA activist Geeta Kumari can be seen being told that she is defying the court order-
In early 2019, JNUSU’s protest against the new admission policy through an entrance exam took an ugly turn when the Vice-Chancellor’s family was attacked. On March 26, 2019, Vice-Chancellor of the JNU, Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, tweeted,
Yesterday when students broke into my residence terrorising my wife who was alone at home, it was the wives of JNU faculty members who rescued my wife with the help of security guards and took her to hospital. Grateful to them for their kindness.
Protest is a fundamental right but intimidating and terrorizing the university administration is a violation of someone else’s fundamental right and hence criminal. How will these students uphold the values of the democracy when their language and behaviour reflects neither fear of law nor respect for the court’s Order? They are a bunch of uncivilized bullies that can only lead the nation to disorder. This is not the breed of responsible citizenry India needs.
ABUSING HINDUS AND SYMPATHIZING WITH CONVICTED CRIMINALS
In 2014, Abhinav Prakash, then JNU research scholar and now Assistant Professor at DU wrote in great detail on the hindu-bashing culture in JNU(read here). He mentioned how not a single Hindu festival passed without inflammatory posters/pamphlets denouncing them and calling for a ban on them.
On Durga Puja-
In 2001, the then Dean of Student, M.H. Quraishi, stood in the front of the Durga Puja Pandal and exhorted the leftists and Islamists to break the “Havan kund” and throw the “Murti” and pandal out of the campus.
Since 2011, Mahishasura Shahadat Diwas is organised by All India Backward Students’ Forum (AIBSF) every year at JNU. On Mahishasura Day, a pamphlet read-
The most controversial racial festival where a fair skinned beautiful goddess Durga is depicted brutally killing a dark skinned native named Mahishasur. They hired a sex worker called Durga, who enticed Mahishasur into marriage and killed him after nine nights of honeymooning during sleep.
A recent image from the fee hike protests in JNU which reads “Brahmins, quit India” showing the hatred for Brahmins. Any policy decision that leftists and communists don’t agree with is looked at as imposition of Brahmin/Hindu supremacy.
Protesting students wrote objectionable messages and vandalised Swami Vivekananda’s statue inside JNU in November 2019.
URBAN NAXALS
Maoism was largely confined to the interiors of villages until it spread to the cities. The Naxal-NGO-intelligentsia-academia-activist-media nexus works as a strategic fortification with the ultimate aim of taking over the Indian state to achieve Maoist rule.
Andhra and Telangana are not oblivious to the threats of urban naxals. In the 1980s, hordes of students from Kakatiya University and Regional Engineering College (now National Institute of Technology), Warangal and Osmania University joined the then Progressive War cadres. Greyhounds, a special forces unit of Andhra & Telangana Police was raised in 1989. It specialises in anti-insurgency operations against naxals and unearthing their networks.
In January this year, an assistant professor from my alma mater Osmania University(OU) was arrested for suspected links with Maoists. In October 2019, another assistant professor at OU was arrested under the same charges.
In 2018, two students of Hyderabad Central University(HCU) were arrested for allegedly plotting with naxals to kill the Vice-Chancellor of HCU to avenge the suicide of Rohith Vemula.
Former IG State CID (crime) of Delhi, Ravindra Kadam said -
JNU and DU continue to be hubs of Naxal activities where indoctrination of students continues at an alarming rate. The Democratic Students’ Union (DSU) that is active in DU is neck-deep in such activities.
In 2018, the Pune police told the court that the five people arrested for alleged links with Maoists were involved in planning a series of lectures in the memory of slain Naxalite Yalavarthi Naveen Babu at JNU.
In 2017, Hem Mishra, a JNU student and Saibaba, a DU professor were sentenced to life imprisonment for their links with the Maoists.
In 2016, Nandini Sundar (DU Professor) and Archana Prasad (JNU Professor) were accused of joining hands with maoists in the murder of a tribal villager in Chattisgarh who was spearheading an agitation against Maoists. The charges were later dropped.
Student groups in universities like Hyderabad Central University(HCU), Osmania University(OU), Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU),JNU & AMU have condemned the hanging of terrorists like Yakub Memon and Afzal Guru.
Will students decide on who qualifies to be a terrorist and who is a ‘freedom-fighter’? Are students above the law of the land? The University administration should come down heavily on such students whose sole aim is to feed off the taxpayer’s money, incite violence and pollute the academic environment.
WAY FORWARD: DEPOLITICIZE UNIVERSITIES AND RE-EMPHASIZE ON ACADEMICS
Student unions are meant to safeguard the rightful interests and address genuine concerns of students in universities, they’re meant to be apolitical. India has 800 universities, 40,000 colleges and around 300 million students who don’t reflect the same idealogy as the politically motivated students. The fact that former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar who forayed into politics by contesting in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and lost is testimony to this. A few hundred students protesting do not represent the voice of the vast majority but politicization of student unions must be nipped in the bud owing to the civil disorder and public nuisance created in the recent years. Any disruption by vested interests can affect others who go to universities seeking academic excellence and not political indoctrination.
Jai Hind!
