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ALL INDIA LAWYERS UNION RAJASTHAN STATE COMMITTEE: Solidarity Message to JNU

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ALL INDIA LAWYERS UNION RAJASTHAN STATE COMMITTEE

Dated:18.2.2016

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE TO JNU

All India Lawyers Union (AILU), Rajasthan State Unit, strongly condemn the recent incident where individuals in uniform of Advocates misbehaved and assaulted Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of JNU Students Union, JNU faculties, Media persons on 15.2.2016 when Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar was produced in court before the magistrate is very serious issue and it became vigorous when the incident was repeated after two days, on 17.2.2016 despite of the actions given byHon’ble Supreme Court.

Further the AILU is of the view that the Jawahar Lal Nehru University is one of the institutions in the world where healthy atmosphere is developed over a time to discuss over the national and international issues. The students as well as the faculty members thereof is of the caliber to suggest a visionary and logical culmination, which not only important for individual but also for the nation and humanity as whole. Furthermore, University is a place where new ideas are developed, questions are asked and policies are praised or criticized. If any unwarranted incident is happened in the campus of the university, certainly an action has to be initiated against the responsible individual and for such action the university administration is having sufficient measures to act upon and no police action inside the campus was required at all. If the university authorities failed to take action or has shown its inability to restrict such activity, only then the police force may be used.

As such the police action in the university campus was absolutely unwarranted, unjustified and abuse of power by the state machinery.

Arrest of Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar and other students and treating them like hardcore criminals/terrorists, in the name of sedation without any substantial evidence, is not expected in a civilized society. The crime of sedation was inserted in IPC by the British rule in order to supress anyone who used to speak against the colonial rule. This term ‘sedation’ is obsolete and has no place in a democratic system like ours, especially in the educational institutions, having international reputation. Framing students in the name of sedation is clearly an attack on the fundamental rights, that is, of speech and expression.

Intentional avoidance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court instructions is apparently an act of contempt of court for which stern action has to be taken. AILU strongly suggests to take following actions against the responsible :

(i) Criminal case has to be registered against the advocates or the persons in the advocates’ uniform indulged in assaulting within the court premises;

(ii) Separate proceeding of criminal contempt is to be started against the persons involved in assaulting despite instructions of Supreme Court;

(iii) The police personals deployed at the court campus, in front of whom the act of assault was occurred has to be suspended henceforth and inquiry has to be initiated against them;

(iv) Mr. Om Prakash Sharma, the sitting MLA, who was apparently involved in the assaulting and to instigate others to involve in assaulting, his membership of Legislative Assembly is to be seized, proceeding of criminal contempt is to be initiated against him;

(v) The courts are the place where people come with the deep faith to get justice but such type of incidents not only deprive the people to avail justice but also diminish the belief in rule of law, and therefore, stern action has to be initiated against each and every responsible person whomsoever he is;

(vi) Code of conduct for advocates has to be reviewed and it may be inserted that any advocate, who involves in such incidents occured on 15.2.2016 and 17.02.2016, shall be restricted to appear in court as well as seize their auth of advocacy;

(vii) The magistrate, before whom the repeated disruption of court proceeding was occurred but no action against the responsible advocates/persons was taken, no FIR was lodged, stern action is required to be initiated against him.

The AILU condemn both the incidents, i.e. abuse of power by the police administration in the JNU campus and omission to prevent the assault on the students faculties and media persons in the court room /campus of Patiala House court. Our organization also demands for immediate release of Kanhaiya Kumar, president of JNUSU, so that normalcy can be restored.

(Dr. Vikram Singh Nain)

General Sectretary

General Secretary: Dr. Vikram Singh Nain Advocate Mobile No: +91 9414069959 Office: 0141-2810959 E-mail: nain_vs@yahoo.co.in

President: Sanjay Tyagi Advocate Mobile No.+91 9414048493 +91 9314013492

8, Nagaur Nagar, Nr. Kisaan Dharam Kanta Gopalpura Bye-pass Road, Jaipur-302019

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STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENT ACTIVISTS IN INDIA: University of Pennsylvania & Philadelphia South Asian Collective

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We, activists and academics in the Pennsylvania region, strongly condemn the attack on academic freedom at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. The arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, the President of the JNU Student’s Union, on charges of sedition has brought to light the intervention of the Union Government in the internal matters of the university. The repeated interference by police personnel at the behest of Vice Chancellors on university campuses is a draconian move. The charges against students were brought after an event organized by a section of students on campus premises to discuss the judicial execution of Afzal Guru. The JNU Students’ Union was subsequently held responsible for the “anti-national” slogans that were chanted by a group of students. We condemn these trumped-up and unconstitutional charges and stand in solidarity with the efforts to repeal capital punishment in India.

The events unfolding at JNU reveal disturbing similarities with instances of government repression on other campuses. We remember, with distress, the actions of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) administration in cahoots with the Central Government, actions that led to the death of a promising Ambedkarite student-activist, Rohith Vemula. The protests that arose indicted the discriminatory atmosphere prevailing in our universities as tantamount to the denial of the fundamental right to education to socially marginalized groups. Further, the murder of social thinkers like Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi by hyper-nationalist elements under the tacit encouragement of the policies of the Central Government has shocked all advocates of free speech in India.

The charges of sedition against students participating in democratic discussion of public events is highly objectionable. The stifling of voices through intimidation and muscle power does not bode well for educational institutions.

Debate and dissent are integral parts of a strong democracy. Universities are critical public spaces that support these democratic practices to realize the values of social justice enshrined in the ideals of the constitution. International campuses like JNU, FTII and UoH bring together diverse group of students in the spirit of self-reflexive and deep intellectual engagement to ask fundamental questions of their social realities. An attack on these institutions is an attack on this precious pedagogical space. Student movements in India in alliance with other social movements in the country have historically been a resilient and sensitive force. The BJP government’s efforts to undermine them is nothing but an assault on Indian democracy. The government has failed to protect the rights of student bodies, and the highhandedness of the police highlights the insecurities of the present government.

In the United States during a presidential election year, we watch increasingly bigoted views against blacks, Muslims, and immigrants gaining ground. These events cannot be seen in isolation and we stand at the intersection of socio-political movements in the US and South Asia.

We stand in solidarity with students and faculty of JNU and demand the immediate release of the detained students. We appeal to all advocates for academic freedom in India and abroad to stand united against this state atrocity.

  1. Anannya Bohidar, Graduate Student, South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania
  2. Ammel Sharon, Graduate Student, South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania
  3. Meghna Chandra, Philadelphia South Asian Collective
  4. Ania Loomba, English, University of Pennsylvania
  5. Projit Mukharji, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
  6. Najnin Islam, Graduate Student, English, University of Pennsylvania

Continue reading STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENT ACTIVISTS IN INDIA: University of Pennsylvania & Philadelphia South Asian Collective →

Culture, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Images, Language, Law, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Letter of solidarity with JNU: Students, Staff and Faculty, Ashoka University

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We, the undersigned—who study and work at Ashoka University, as well as the alumni of the Young India Fellowship, in our private capacity—write to voice our solidarity with the students and faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Recent events at JNU, including the arrest of the JNUSU President over the charge of sedition, as well as other disproportionate measures, amount to a deeply troubling attack on academic and cultural freedom. We strongly condemn the display of brute force by the police, who were given free entry to the campus, including hostels, to question, detain and arrest students and faculty members. We protest the lack of police protection to those students and faculty, and condemn the use of State force against democratic expressions of dissent.

As proponents of liberal education, we believe that societies can only grow when they foster intellectual engagement with fundamental social questions and contemporary political issues through non-violent debate and argumentation. University campuses are, and should be, autonomous spaces where people can peacefully express as well as challenge dissent and opinions. However, the recent spate of events involving many university campuses across the country has posed a serious threat to the sanctity of such spaces as well as the democratic right to dissent and freedom of speech and expression. This includes the turn of events that led to Rohith Vemula’s death at the University of Hyderabad, the withholding of grants by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to Panjab University, and several instances of violent disruption of the screening of the film Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai in campuses across the country.

We condemn the State-backed misuse of the charge of sedition, a colonial era provision in the Indian Penal Code, against the JNUSU President, Kanhaiya Kumar. In the documented absence of any allegedly ‘anti-national’ actions or rhetoric on his part, we see the charge as an attempt to stifle dissent from the dominant order and silence critique of the State. We strongly believe that the provision against sedition, which was repealed in the United Kingdom itself in 2009, has no place in modern democracy. Most immediately, we strongly disapprove of the action of certain lawyers and a Member of the Legislative Assembly who physically attacked JNU students and faculty members as well as journalists outside the Patiala Court House premises on 15th February, 2016.

We fear that the continued State inaction against such instances of violence will foster an environment in which the label “anti-national” or “traitor” can be imposed on every voice of dissent.

We urge that:

– the JNU campus be restored to normalcy and the police be withdrawn from all parts of the campus.

– the JNUSU President, Kanhaiya Kumar be released from police custody immediately and all charges be dropped against him.

– such unconstitutional actions be denounced.

– we be allowed to nurture our universities as tolerant, democratic spaces where dissent and disagreement is respected, discussions are nurtured, and critical thinkers are born.

Faculty

Ajit Mishra

Bhaskar Dutta

Malvika Maheshwari

Alex Watson

Debarati Roy

Mandakini Dubey

Anisha Sharma

Durba Chattaraj

Maya Saran

Anunaya Chaubey

Gilles Verniers

Nayanjot Lahiri

Anuradha Saha

Gwendolyn Kelly

Rajendran Narayanan

Aparajita Dasgupta

Jonathan Gil Harris

Ratna Menon

Aparna vaidik

Kranti Saran

Ravindran Sriramachandran

Arunava Sinha

Kunal Joshi

Saikat Majumdar

Aruni Kashyap

M A Ahmad Khan

Supriya Nayak

Pulapre Balakrishnan

Madhavi Menon

Vaiju naravane

Bharat Ramaswami

Malabika Sarkar

Vishes Kothari

Staff

Adil Shah

Kanika Singh

Shiv D Sharma

Aniha Brar

Karuna

Shreya Khedia

Anu Singh

Meena S. Wilson

Sudarshana Chanda

Anuja Kelkar

Mercia Prince

Suha Gangopadhyay

Charu Singh

Priyanka Kumar

Sukanya Banerjee

Chiranjit mahato

Sarah Afraz

Sushmita Nath

Dr Maaz Bin Bilal

Saumya Varma

Swarnim Khare

Harshita Tripathi

Saurav Goswami

Tanita Abraham

Ishan de Souza

Sayan Chaudhuri

Zehra

Sushmita Samaddar

Surya Raman

Sandeep Saraswal

Apoorva Gupta

Aditya Sarin

Chandan Sharma

Alumni

Aafaque R Khan

Kaavya Gupta

Rishi Iyengar

Akanksha

Kande Sruthi Niveditha

Ritesh Agarwal

Akshay Barik

Kaustubh Khare

Rohini Singh

Ananta Seth

Maansi Verma

Rupali Kapoor

Antony Arul Valan

Malini Bose

Sai Krishna Kumaraswamy

Anushka Siddiqui

Mayank Sharma

Sakshi Ghai

Ashish Kumar

Mrudula Nujella

Shahzaib Ahmed

Ashweetha

Neil Maheshwari

Shaleen Wadhwana

Avni Ahuja

Neelakshi Tewari

Shashank Mittal

Chaarvi Badani

Nikita Saxena

Shivangi Pareek

Danish Ahmad Mir

Nina Sud

Shrestha Mullick

Debanshu Roy

Nipun Arora

Shweta Subbaraman

Deepika Ghosh

Parushya

Simeen Kaleem

Devleena Chatterji

Pavithra Srinivasan

Simranpreet Oberoi

Dhaneesh Jameson

Poornima Sardana

Sonal Jain

Dhwani Sabesh

Pragya Mukherjee

Subhodeep Jash

Hardika Dayalani

Prama Neeraja

Tanuj Bhojwani

Harsh Mani Tripathi

Rahul Sreekumar

Taysir Moonim

Harsh Snehanshu

Rajat Nayyar

Vaishnavi Viraj

Himanshu Ranjan

Ratul Chowdhury

Venkat Prasath

Jahanara Rabia Raza

Rimjhim Roy

Vishal Khatri
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Solidarity Statement for JNU by IIT Scholars

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This is a statement issued by the undersigned, scholars of Departments of Humanities and Social Sciences of IITs across the country.

We, the undersigned, scholars of Departments of Humanities and Social Sciences of IITs across the country, condemn the police action in JNU and the arrest of the JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar on the charge of sedition. We also denounce the repeated acts of violence unleashed by some lawyers and others at the Patiala House Court against faculty, students and the media, as well as police inaction regarding the same.

In addition, we appeal for media and public trials to cease and for civil society to instead focus on debating issues in an amicable and reasonable manner, without slandering JNU or questioning the academic integrity or patriotic fervour of JNU and its supporters. We criticise the general atmosphere of fear and intimidation that is being created to target the entire university. Given the fast polarizing political atmosphere in the country, we appeal to the media organisations to display greater responsibility and conduct television debates in such a manner that no prejudicial public opinion is created while there is an ongoing enquiry into the entire episode by the authorities concerned. Resorting to jingoism and sensationalism may cause avoidable hazards. Continue reading Solidarity Statement for JNU by IIT Scholars →

Bad ideas, Education, Government, Right watch

A message of Solidarity and a Statutory Warning: Pankaj Mishra

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Guest Post by author Pankaj Mishra
One can only welcome the broad coalition that has sprung up against the assault on JNU and in defense of the right–eternally vouchsafed to students–to intellectual freedom. But the imperative of solidarity should not make us forget that this multi-pronged violence—ordered by the government, and assisted by police officers, university officials, lawyers and sections of the media—has been in the making for a while—at least a decade and a half.
The empowerment of a technocratic elite that presumes to know exactly what the ‘New India’ ought to do in order to be wealthy and powerful made much intellectual and artistic endeavour, not to mention political struggle, seem unnecessary. Its cherished epithet ‘jholawallah,’ aimed to scornfully delegitimate a whole spectrum of demands for justice and equality as well as a culture of reflection and debate. Wealth-creators and their lackeys in politics, business and the media have long been united in their contempt for intellectual dissent—roughly interpreted as anything that seems to impede or slow down their own progress towards more wealth and power.

Continue reading A message of Solidarity and a Statutory Warning: Pankaj Mishra →

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Delhi Stands With JNU Students and Against the Evil Modi Regime

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“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are...”-

Bertholt Brecht

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This afternoon saw an amazing, uplifting show of peaceful, joyful strength by students, young people, teachers, friends in Delhi, in support of JNU, in memory of Rohith Vemula, in solidarity with Kanhaiya, Umar and all the students in JNU who are being so stellar in their principled opposition to this evil, venal Modi regime. Reports of massive protests are coming in from Kolkata, Russia to and elsewhere. Something is changing in the air.
It was a perfect spring afternoon, overcast like our times, but breezy like our morale. There must have been at least 15,000 people on the march today. We met old and long lost friends and made new ones.

The gathering was totally peaceful. Young  women and men, student profits from JNU in the eighties, grey haired, felt young again as their student held aloft flowers, flags, signs and homemade banners. Everyone looked their best, as if they had come to a massive street party.

It was so infectious, the mood this afternoon, such a contrast to the vile bad temper of the men who attacked Kanhaiya and his supporters two days in a row at the Patiala House Courts two days in a row that the difference between two entirely different visions of politics was palpable on your skin. The contrast sent a clear message to all our senses.

The RSS-ABVP-BJP brand of politics is diseased. It’s on its last legs and that is why it is so desperate. It cannot perform, it has no ideas, it is morally and culturally bankrupt.

Universities are in crisis and all that the bad TV actress who makes a joke of her ministry (HRS) every day can think of today while thousands March against her and her boss is about sticking giant flagpoles into the ground and stitching gigantic silk shrouds for her  government and her party.

Modi, Rajnath and Manusmriti Irani should quake in fear. Their time is up.

Very proud of JNU students and the people of Delhi today.

#StandwithJNU #StandwithKanhaiya

#StandwithUmar

#Standwithallstudents

#NowitchHuntofStudents

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JNU Teachers Statement

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After the arrest of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar on 12 February and the entry of the police into JNU Campus, the situation has worsened for our students over the last few days. Sections of the mainstream and social media have carried unsubstantiated rumours targeting students, and organised groups have been making threats against them and indulging in hate speech in order to intimidate. The viciousness of this section of the media and amounts to a public trial and the frightening abuses being hurled at them make us feel deeply concerned for their personal safety and possibilities of their obtaining justice.

We strongly condemn these acts that create an environment of extreme prejudice and potential violence. We demand that the campus be allowed to return to normalcy at the soonest, so that students can return to their regular academic life in an atmosphere of trust and safety. The slander campaign against the University based on unsubstantiated claims not only tarnishes JNU’s image as one of best regarded institutions of higher education in the country, it also destroys JNU’s peaceful academic life. We are deeply concerned about the students’ future, which is being affected by this malicious campaign against JNU.

We the teachers of JNU wish that the Indian people should see through this orchestrated design to transform JNU into a space which will be unable to encourage or sustain critical thinking, so vital to the functioning of our democracy and our nation. It will also endanger the futures of thousands of students who are uncertain about the consequences that such a sustained campaign will have on their futures. We call upon the broadest possible sections of the Indian people to preserve the character of this much cherished national institution.

 C.P. Chandrasekhar

G. Arunima

Ayesha Kidwai

Udaya Kumar

Pratiksha Baxi

Chirashree Dasgupta

Saradindu Bhaduri

Rajat Datta

Vinay Kumar Ambedkar

Ranjani Mazumdar

Jayati Ghosh

Navaneetha Mokkil

Rohith Azad

Ameet Parameswaran

Joy Pachuau

Yashadatta Alone

Rajarshi Dasgupta

Mohan Rao

Vikas Bajpai

Sujatha V

Parul Mukherjee

Ramila Bisht

Surinder Jodhka

Happymon Jacob

Supriya Varma

Mallarika Sinha Roy

Parnal Chirmuley

Nivedita Menon

Hemant Adlakha

Lata Singh

Urmimala Sarkar

Rajib Dasgupta

Rama Baru

Prachin Ghodajkar

Vikas Rawal

Partho Datta

Papia Sengupta

Ira Bhaskar

Sandesha Rayipa-Garbiyal

Veena Hariharan

Pradipta Bandyopadhyay

Biswajit Dhar

Neera Kongari

Geetha Nambissan

Brahma Prakash

Brinda Bose

Maitrayee Chaudhuri

Rashmi Barua

 

 

 

 

 

Culture, Debates, Language, Law, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Solidarity Statement from Writers and Activists in Nepal

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We stand with JNU From Nepal

We are deeply concerned by recent developments in one of India’s premier academic institutions, Jawaharlal Nehru University. The fact that Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, JNUSU president, has been arrested and accused of sedition for a speech meant to promote more meaningful dialogue on civil liberties and freedom to dissent is an attack on the freedom of expression,a universal value which ought to be at the heart of any center of learning.

The Indian state apparatus has come out aggressively to demean and dismiss an institution’s independent practice of scholarship. This should be a cause of concern, not only to the citizens of India, but to each individual who envisions a more equal and just society. Because the impulse to stifle dissent begins incrementally, but then it becomes a barrage, a torrent, and an avalanche until it smothers every differing voice. Such attempts at stifling any voice at all should be condemned unequivocally.

We, the signatories from Nepal as listed below, unequivocally condemn the oppression of dissent at Jawaharlal Nehru University. We condemn in the clearest terms the actions of the Indian state and non-state mechanisms that have shown alarming vigor towards silencing dissent and curbing free speech.

Manjushree Thapa, Writer

Khagendra Sangraula, Writer

CK Lal, Writer

Kishore Nepal, Writer

Hari Roka, Writer/JNU Alumni

Continue reading Solidarity Statement from Writers and Activists in Nepal →

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#NoDissentNoCountry #StandwithJNU

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Bol ke labh azaad hain tere: Speak for your lips are yet free

Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University and CSSS Calcutta

A full Hindi transcript of Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech is available here:http://kafila.org/2016/02/15/jnusu-president-kanhaiya-kumars-speech-before-being-arrested/

A full English translation can be accessed here:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160216/jsp/frontpage/story_69576.jsp#.VsVc8HQrK8r

Culture, Debates, Language, Media politics, Movements, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

#NoDissentNoCOUNTRY #StandwithJNU

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Bol ke labh azad hain tere: Speak for your lips are yet free

Eleanor Newbigin, SOAS, University of London

A full Hindi transcript and video of Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech is available here:http://kafila.org/2016/02/15/jnusu-president-kanhaiya-kumars-speech-before-being-arrested/

An English translation can be accessed here: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160216/jsp/frontpage/story_69576.jsp#.VsVc8HQrK8r

Bad ideas, Identities, Images, Language, Media politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

#NoDissentNoCOUNTRY #StandwithJNU

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Bol, ke lab azaad hai tere: Speak for your lips are yet free

 

Akshaya Tankha (JNU 2006) University of Toronto

A full Hindi transcript and video of Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech may be found here: http://kafila.org/2016/02/15/jnusu-president-kanhaiya-kumars-speech-before-being-arrested/

A complete English translation may be accessed here:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160216/jsp/frontpage/story_69576.jsp#.VsVc8HQrK8r

Bad ideas, Debates, Education, Government, Identities, Law, Religion, Right watch

A letter to Umar Khalid: Pallavi Paul

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Guest Post by Pallavi Paul

Dear Umar,

My name is Pallavi Paul and like you I am a PhD student at JNU.

I write this letter to apologize to you. What thoughts must be crossing your mind and that of your family, friends and comrades- as bloodthirsty, jingoist goons are on a shameless head hunt for you and your friends. I apologize to you for the poverty of imagination of a state that brands you as anti-national, while continues to trample on the rights and bodies of those living within its borders from Pulwama to New Delhi to Hyderabad. I apologize to you that you find yourself in a society where to echo the feelings of thousands of Kashmiris, to think of yourself as first devoted to the idea of justice before any arbitrary construct of the nation, to be moved by suffering, to critique capital punishment – is considered an act of terrorism. In a beautiful post on Facebook your sister lovingly called you a “communist paagal”. I apologize to you that this current oppressive climate is too cramped for your magical madness. The imagination of a beautiful world which has place not only for sangh certified, brahminically privileged, self- affirming ‘Indian-ness’, but for everyone who has found themselves left outside of this fold- the landless, the stateless, those without the protections of caste, class, religion, gender or nation.

What a wonderful name you chose for the event on the 9th of February – Country Without A Post Office. After, one of Agha Shahid Ali’s most haunting works, which references a time in the 1990s when no letters were delivered to Kashmir. There was no way for people to talk to or hear one another. You chose to think about the punishment accorded to Afsal Guru, along with this history. Your efforts to create a conversation, a debate on what it means to take a human life, is today being branded as evidence of your anti-nationalism. I apologize to you for the amnesia and the fragile ego of this country, which is unable to revisit its history without a shred of doubt or criticality. Where the only way to serve the cause of the country is by mouthing its praises and letting it rot in its own status quo and not by bringing to it newer questions, possibilities and challenges.

Many television channels like Times Now, News X, Zee have been ruthless and vicious in trying to establish links between you and terrorist organizations like the Jaish- e- Mohammad. I am sorry that you are living in a country where your name makes it so easy for this connection to be made. While comrade Kanhaiya is still in Police Custody fighting the preposterous charge of sedition, even as I write this to you- he has at the very minimum the assurance that he will not be linked to an Islamist Terrorist Organization. You, dear Umar do not even have that. Even that you are a self proclaimed atheist is not guarantee against prejudiced links being made between the religion you were born into and your political beliefs. That you made a choice outside of religion and the various forms of violence that its fundamentalist interpretations throw up, has been drowned in the noise being whipped up by vigilante, self proclaimed ‘nationalists’.

Like every storm this too will pass. The arrogance of this regime will be its undoing. Today there is a report in the Hindu, where the Central Government has denied receiving any report linking you to terrorist outfits. It is being widely shared on social media with the hashtag #weareumarkhalid. We know that your social media account has been hacked , but be assured that many voices are also rising in your support. I do not know when or whether you will be able to read this letter, but I hope that whenever we meet we will be able to celebrate freedom, justice and the spirit of critique. The seasons will change and the breeze will blow more merrily.

Take care of yourself dear comrade, the struggle is on.

Lal Salaam!

Pallavi Paul is a filmmaker and a PhD candidate at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Ecology/Environment, Politics, Right watch

Police Commissioner Bassi – His Master’s Voice

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Mr Bassi said to the press:

“Investigation is on. And after identifying the people, action will be taken as per the law. O.P. Sharma said that he was injured. If I may use the term it was a little surcharged environment. Allegations and counter allegations have been levelled from both the sides. So, we have registered FIR in both episodes.”

There were no “two episodes”. There was one – of unprovoked violence by a mob.

I was one of those inside the courtroom, and if I may use the term Mr Bassi, your lack of professionalism and your bias is a little too evident. The atmosphere was not surcharged until hordes of Sanghis suddenly poured into Court No. 4 Patiala House, in what is now clear was a pre-planned attack mobilized through a WhatsApp message.

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Continue reading Police Commissioner Bassi – His Master’s Voice →

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Statements of Solidarity For JNU From Various Quarters

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We at Kafila have been receiving amazing statements of solidarity with JNU and its elected students’ President Kanhaiya Kumar over the past three days. We are posting them below, along with affiliations: South Asia University (teachers and students); Grinnell College, USA, Ambedkar University Delhi Faculty Association, Democratic Teachers Network, Hyderabad, and over a hundred students from Department of English, Delhi University.

 

STUDENTS OF SOUTH ASIA UNIVERSITY

We, the students of South Asian University, New Delhi (comprising of students from eight SAARC nations – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) strongly oppose the idea that one’s nationalism be defined in terms of hatred towards another nation (for example, Indian nationalism be defined as hatred towards Pakistan, or vice versa). We cherish the common cultural and social heritage of the South Asian region, and shall not let any kind of jingoist nationalism being endorsed by any religious group, political party or state hinder our shared solidarity. However, in recent times, such groups and establishments have unleashed an attack on democratic and critical voices in our universities across the South Asian region, masked under religious conformity, state intervention or sometimes in the form of an act of terrorism.

Thus, we stand in complete solidarity with the student and faculty community of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in their collective struggle against the ongoing police intervention by slapping the baseless charges of sedition on many students, including the arrest of JNUSU President – Kanhaiya Kumar, and against the massive propaganda terming the JNU as ‘a den of anti-nationals’. We would like to reiterate that our collective nationalism stands responsible only to the interests of our people and our land, and not to the divisive forces which have had and are still trying to create boundaries between us.

STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENT PROTESTS IN INDIA, FROM STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF OF GRINNELL COLLEGE

Grinnell-JNU Solidarity

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On framing JNU for an imaginary crime: Aditya Sarkar

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This is a guest post by ADITYA SARKAR

JNU has entered an indefinite state of siege. Police have been swarming all over campus, raiding hostels, picking up students and interrogating them. The ABVP, predictably, have been directing them to the lairs of ‘anti-national elements’. When immense demonstrations of public solidarity with the accused students were organized, ABVP activists have attacked these, in one case mounting a violent physical assault on a visiting speaker. The JNU administration has gone to the extent of cutting off the power supply to the microphones used at a protest meeting. At Patiala House on Monday the 15th of February, the BJP’s MLAs and what appear to be a group of lawyers have assaulted JNU students, faculty and supporters in full view of the police, with what can only be regarded as smug impunity. More than one observer has remarked that this is the Emergency all over again.

It is clear that the arrayed forces of the central government are pitted against a campus which has long been an object of hatred for the Right. There’s no telling how matters will develop in the days and weeks to come. So it might be necessary to step back a bit and consider the sequence of events that led to the current situation.

In the past month, JNU students organized a protest meeting which raised the issue of Kashmiri rights, and drew attention – just as Rohith Vemula’s protest in Hyderabad had done – to the execution of Afzal Guru in 2013. Since the mainstream news outlets systematically censor any attempt to reopen that extremely murky case, it’s worth reminding ourselves of precisely why the execution was so controversial. The terrorist attack on Parliament in December 2001 produced a police investigation on which serious doubt was cast from the beginning. Afzal Guru’s laptop and mobile phone, key pieces of evidence, had not been sealed prior to investigation. One of the other accused in the case, a Delhi University lecturer (who was later emphatically acquitted) was viciously framed by Zee News, which used the police charge-sheet to make a documentary ‘establishing’ his guilt. The court proceedings were even more revealing. The Supreme Court admitted that there was no hard evidence to conclusively establish Afzal Guru’s involvement in criminal conspiracy. But these admissions were merely qualifications to what was perhaps the most extraordinary decision in the history of the judiciary in independent India. Afzal Guru was eventually hanged in 2013 on the basis that only this would appease ‘the collective conscience of the nation society’.

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Bad ideas, Education, Identities, Images, Movements, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Some thoughts on love in times of hate – from a JNU student : Pallavi Paul

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Guest Post by Pallavi Paul

As I comb through the deluge of responses and opinions  that have been circulating on television, social media, newspapers and conversations  over the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, there is one particular fear that sticks out repeatedly. The fear  of JNU being a ‘transformative’ space. Where young and innocent minds are changed. The question that follows then is- changed into what? Even as we see ABVP students vociferously defending police action on all media platforms, the Sanskrit department continuing with classes in spite of the call for strike in support of Kanhaiya and faculty members like Hari Ram Mishra (CSS) issuing media statements against the student agitation currently underway- the simple formula that JNU transforms its students into ‘anti-national’ elements (going by the current interpretation of the term) begins to appear erroneous. In addition to having a culture of critical thinking, debate, questioning and radical left politics – JNU has also had an equally dynamic history of Hindutva and Brahaminical politics. For every protest on Afsal Guru there is a Guru Dakhshina Karyakram, for every Sitaram Yechury addressing students there is an Ashok Singhal (who visited the campus in 2002 even amidst intense protests). This fear then, if seen clearly begins to appear more and more abstract. It bases itself on a ‘sense’ of the campus- rather than its actual political fiber. Infact if one hears carefully it is the larger fear of things changing, things changing irreversibly.

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JNU Bashing is an old pastime, but things just got much, much worse

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In light of the glorious vigilantism being witnessed today, in which the lumpen lawyers at Patiala House are joining hands with Guardian of the Nation Horn-nob Go-Swamy on primetime TV A few years ago, finding myself in a heated but very enjoyable argument on why women change their surnames after marriage, somebody yelled from across the room, “What has JNU done to you?!”

I wasn’t surprised, only annoyed. Reducing my entire biography and political beliefs to an institution I attended once upon a time is a favourite pastime in India, when that institution happens to be JNU. I could have explained to the genius who shouted this that if I do have political opinions, neither were they surgically implanted in me at JNU nor will they wither away like the bourgeois state in Marxism if JNU ceases to exist. I should have been grateful that the JNU-phobia was posed through the formal courtesy of a query. Usually, it takes the form of a statement, “You JNU folk are all lunatics!”

In family settings, JNU-bashing is the preferred insult to shut down an argument, “It’s the JNU in you speaking!” At seminars, a question or a paper can be made illegitimate with the simple investigative exercise of determining if you’re from ‘a particular institution with a particular ideology’. Of course, the person asking the question has miraculously escaped institutions and ideology, remaining gloriously neutral in this fractured world.

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Everyday Life, Language, Law, Politics, Right watch

SOLIDARITY STATEMENT BY JNU ALUMNI AND INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY

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The statement below represents the concerns of JNU’s international alumni, and a wider global academic community of friends and comrades. The support demonstrated by the names below testifies that JNU is far more than a besieged university campus in India. JNU stands for a vital imagination of the space of the university – an imagination that embraces critical thinking, democratic dissent, student activism, and the plurality of political beliefs. It is this critical imagination that the current establishment seeks to destroy. And we know that this is not a problem for India alone. Similar attacks on critical dissent and university spaces are being attempted and resisted across the world.

If you would like to stand in solidarity with the students and faculty of JNU, and the ethos of university spaces everywhere, please mention your name and current institutional affiliation in the ‘Comments’ section. Also, in case you are a JNU alumnus, please mention the year you graduated. This list will be regularly updated.

****SOLIDARITY STATEMENT****

We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the students, faculty and staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi against the illegal ongoing police action since February 9, 2016. With them, we affirm the autonomy of the university as a non-militarized space for freedom of thought and expression. Accordingly, we condemn police presence on campus and the harassment of students on the basis of their political beliefs.

The charge of sedition, under the guise of which the police have been given a carte blanche to enter the JNU campus, to raid student hostels, arrest and detain students, including Kanhaiya Kumar, the current president of the JNU Students Union, is an alibi for the incursion of an authoritarian regime onto the university campus. Under Indian law sedition applies only to words and actions that directly issue a call to violence. The peaceful demonstration and gathering of citizens does not constitute criminal conduct. The police action on JNU campus is illegal under the constitution of India.

An open, tolerant, and democratic society is inextricably linked to critical thought and expression cultivated by universities in India and abroad. As teachers, students, and scholars across the world, we are watching with extreme concern the situation unfolding at JNU and refuse to remain silent as our colleagues (students, staff, and faculty) resist the illegal detention and autocratic suspension of students. We urge the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University to protect members of the university community and safeguard their rights.

 

Dated/- 15 February 2016

 

  1. Asma Abbas, Bard College at Simon’s Rock
  2. Syed Shahid Abbas, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, U.K.
  3. Gilbert Achcar, SOAS, University of London
  4. Katie Addleman, University of Toronto
  5. Barun Adhikary, JNU
  6. Aniket Aga, Yale University Continue reading SOLIDARITY STATEMENT BY JNU ALUMNI AND INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY →
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The Tendency of the Price of Young Life to Fall and the Hope that it May Rise

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The war on young people continues. In this post we will only consider it’s arithmetic. Not even its algebra, simply its arithmetic.

I am prompted to do this by a strange acoustic co-incidence. While standing as part of a cordon of faculty and friends protecting the students of JNU on the public meeting on the 13th of April from a handful of ABVP activists who liked invoking blood and bullets in their slogans, I head one that stayed with me, and made me revisit a question that often bothers me.

lance-naik-hanumanthappa

This was the slogan ‘Hanumanthappa hum sharminda hain, tere qatil zinda hain’. (‘Hanumanthappa we are ashamed, your murders are still alive’ ). Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, as we all know now, was a thirty two year old soldier of the Indian army who survived six days under an avalanche on the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir and then died of multiple organ failure in a Delhi military hospital. His young body must have had a tremendous and a passionate yearning for life. Sometimes I think of what a fine father or husband or lover or friend a man who loved life so must have been, could have continued to have been.

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Education, Politics, Right watch

JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech before being arrested

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See also in The Citizen Why Is The Media Not Reporting Kanhaiya’s Speech?

For English translation of Kanhaiya’s speech, see:

If anti-national means this, God save our country

JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar’s Speech: Full Transcript

(Devanagari transcript is forthcoming)

Hum hain is desh ke. Aur is mitti se pyar karte hain. Is desh ke andar jo assi pratishad garib aavam hai, hum uske liye ladte hain. Hamare liye yahi desh-hit hai. Humein pura bharosa hai Baba Saheb ke upar. Humein pura bharosa hai apne desh ke samvidhan ke upar. aur hum is baat ko pure mazbooti se kehna chahte hain ke is desh ki samvidhan pe koi ungli uthayega chahe voh ungli sanghiyon ka ho, chahe voh ungli kisi ka bhi ho us ungli ko hum bardasht nahin karenge. Hum samvidhan mein bharosa karte hain. Lekin jo samvidhan Nagpur aur jhandewalan mein padhaya jaata hai us samvidhan pe humko koi bharosa Nahin. Humko manusmriti pe koi bharosa nahin hai. Humko is desh ke andar jo jaativad hai us pe koi bharosa nahin hai. Aur vahi samvidhan, vahi Baba Saheb Doctor Bhimrao Ambedkar, samvidhan mein samvidhanik upchar ki baat karte hain. Vahi Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar capital punishment ko abolish karne ki baat karte hain. Vahi Baba Saheb Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar freedom of expression ki baat karte hain. Aur hum us position ko uphold karte hue, jo hamara buniyadi adhikar hai, jo hamara constitutional right hai, hum usko uphold karna chahte hain.

Lekin yeh bade sharam ki baat hai, yeh bade dukh ki baat hai ki aaj ABVP apne media sahiyogiyon se pure mamle ko orchestrate kar raha hai. Pure mamle ko dilute kar raha hai. SHAME. Kal ABVP ke joint secretary ne kaha ki hum fellowship ke liye ladte hain. Kitna ridiculous lagta hai sunkar ke inki sarkar, madam Manusmriti Irani, fellowship ko khatam karti hai, aur hum fellowship ke liye ladh rahe hain. Inki sarkar higher education ke andar 17 percent budget ko cut kiya hai SHAME, jis se hamara hostel pichle chaar saalon mein nahin bana. Hostel ko wifi aaj tak nahin mila, aur ek bus diya BHEL ne to us mein tel daalne ke liye prashasan ke paas paisa nahin hai. SHAME. ABVP ke log roller ke saamne devanand ke tarah tasveer khicha kar kehte hain ki hum hostel banwa rahein hain. Hum wifi karva rahein hain. Hum fellowship badhva rahein hain. Inki polpatti khul jayegi saathiyon agar is desh mein buniyadi sawal pe charcha hogi. Aur mujhe garv hai JNUite hone pe ke hum bunyadi sawal pe charcha karte hain. Hum buniyadi sawal uthate hain. Aur isilye voh [Subramaniyum] Swami kehta hai ke JNU mein jihadi rehte hain. SHAME…voh kehta hai ke JNU ke log hinsa phelate hain.

SHAME

Main JNU se challenge karna chahta hun RSS ke pracharakon ko, ke bulao use aur karo hamare saath debate. Hum karna chahte hain hinsa ke concept pe debate. Aur hum sawal khada karna chahte hain, ABVP ke us daave par. ABVP ke manch se khade ho kar bolta hai besharam: “Khoon se tilak karenge goliyon se aarti.” Kiska khoon bahana chahete ho is mulk mein tum? Kis ka dehant chahte ho is mulk mein tum?

Tumne goliyan chalayi hain. Angrezon ke saath mil kar is desh ki azadi ke liye ladhne wale logon par goliyan chalayi hain. Is mulk ke andar garib jab apni roti ki baat karta hai, jab bhookmari se marte hue log apne haqq ki baat karte hain, tum un pe goli chalate ho. SHAME…Kis par goli chalayi hai tumne is mulk mein? Mussalmanon ke upar. Tumne chalayi goli is mulk mein…mahilayein jab apne adhikar ki baat kartin hain to tum kehte ho paanchon ungli barabar nahin ho sakti SHAME…tum kehte ho mahilaon ko sita ki tarah rehna chahiye aur sita ki tarah agni pariksha dena chahiye.

Is desh mein loktantra hai aur loktantra sabko barabari ka haqq deta hai. Chahe vo vidyarthi ho, chahe vo karamchari ho, chahe vo garib ho, mazdoor ho, kisan ho, ya Ambani ho, Adani ho, sabke haqq ki barabari ki baat karta hai. Us mein mahilayon ki barabari ki baat hum karte hain, to yeh kehte hain ki hum Bharati sanskriti ko barbad karna chahte hain. Hum barbad karna chahte hain shoshan ki sanskriti ko. Jaati-vaad ki sanskriti ko, manuvaad aur Bhramanvaad ki sanskriti ko. Aur aaj tak hamari sanskriti ki paribhasha tay nahin hui. Inko dikat kahan aata hai? Inko dikat aata hai jab is mulk ke log loktantra ki baat karte hain. Jab log laal salaam ke saath leela salaam lagate hain, jab Marx ke saath Dr Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ka naam lete hain. Jab Ashfaqulla ka naam liya jaata hai to inko pet mein darad hota hai.

Aur inki saajish hai, yeh Angrezon ke chamche hain. Lagao mere upar defamation ka case. Main kehta hun ke RSS ka itihas Angrezon ke saath khade hone ka itihaas hai. SHAME…Desh ke gaddar aaj deshbhakti ka certificate baant rahein hain. Mera mobile check kijiye saathiyon meri ma aur behen ko bhaddi bhaddi galiyan di ja rahin hain. SHAME…Kaunsi Bharat Ma ki baat karte ho agar tumhari Bharat Mata mein meri Ma shamil nahin hai. Mujhe manzur nahin hai yeh Bharat Mata ka concept. Aur is desh ki mahilayein jo garib hain, mazdoor hain… meri ma anganwadi sevika hai. Teen hazar se hamara parivar chalta hai. Aur yeh uske khilaf galiyan de rahein hain. Mujhe sharam hai is desh par, is desh mein jo garib mazdoor dalit kisan hai unki matain Bharat Mata nahin hain.

Main kahunga Jai! Bharat ki Mataon ki Jai! Pitaon ki jai! Mataon, Behenon ki jai! Kisanon, mazdooron, daliton, adivasiyon ki jai! Main kahunga, tum mein himmat hai to bolo Inqilab Zindabad! Bolo Bhagat Singh Zindabad! Bolo Sukhdev Zindabad, Bolo Asfaqullah Khan Zindabad! Bolo Baba Saheb Zindabad!

Aur Baba Saheb ki ek sau pachisvi (125th) jayanti manane ka natak kar rahe ho. Hai tum mein himmat to sawal uthao, jo sawal Baba Bhimrao Ambedkar ne uthaya, ki is desh ke andar jaativad sabse badi samasya hai. Bolo jaativad ke upar. Lao reservation! Private sector mein reservation lao! Tamam jageh reservation kayda laghu karo. Karo phir manega yeh desh tumhe. Yeh desh tumhara kabhi nahin tha, aur kabhi nahin ho sakta.

Koi desh agar banta hai, to vahan ke logon se banta hai. Agar desh ki avdharna main bhooke logon ke liye jagah nahin, garib mazdooron ke liye jagah nahin hai voh desh nahin hai. Kal main TV debate mein ye baat bol rah tha, Deepak Chaurasiyaji ko, ki: chaurasiyaji yeh gambhir samay hai is baat ko yaad rakhiyega – Agar mulk mein phansivaad jis tareeke se aa raha hai, media bhi surakshit nahin rehne wali hai. Uske bhi script likhkar aayenge [indecipherable] ke office se, aur uske bhi script likh kar aate the kabhi Indira Gandhi ke Congress ke office se. Is baat ko yaad rakhiyega.

Aur agar aap sach mein is desh mein desh bhakti dikhana chahte hain…kuch media ke saathi keh rahe the, hamare tax ke paise se, subsidy ke paise se, JNU chalta hai. Haan sach hai. Sach hai ke tax ke paise se chalta hai. Sach hai ke subsidy ke paise se chalta hai. Lekin ye sawal khada karna chahte hain, ke university hota kis liye hai? University hota hai ke samaj ke andar jo common-sense hai, quote unquote uska critical analysis kiya jaye. Critical debate ko promote kiya jaye. Agar university is kaam mein fail hai, koi desh nahin banega, desh mein koi log shamil nahin honge, aur desh hoga sirf aur sirf punjipathiyon ke liye charagah hoga, sirf aur sirf loot aur shoshan ka charagah ban kar rahe jayega. Agar desh ke andar logon ki jo sanskriti hai, logon ki jo manyatain hain, logon ka jo adhikar hai, hum usko shamil nahin karenge, to desh nahin banega.

Hum desh ke saath puri tareeke se khade hain. Aur us sapne ke saath khade hain jo Bhagat Singh aur Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ne dikhaya hai. Hum us sapne ke saath khade hain ke sab ko barabari ka haq diya jaye. Hum us sapne ke saath khade hain ke sabko jeena ka haqq ho, sabko khane-peene rehne ka haqq ho, hum us sapne ke saath khade hain. Aur us sapne ke saath khada hone ke liye Rohit Vemula ne apna jaan gavaya hai. Lekin main kehna chahta hun in sanghiyon ko, lanat hai tumhari sarkar par, aur chunauti hi meri kendra sarkar ko, ke aap Rohit ke mamle mein jo kiya hai, voh JNU mein hum nahin hone denge. Rohit ko [punwani’?] di hai, punwani hum kya denge, hum freedom of experssion ke paksh mein khade honge.

Aur chodh do Pakistan ki baat aur Bangladesh ki baat. Hum kehte hain, duniya ke garibon ek hon, duniya ke mazdooron ek hon, duniya ki manavta zindabad, bharat ki manavta zindabad. Aur jo uss manavta ke khilaf khada hua hai, hum usko aaj identify kar chuke hain. Aur aaj sabse gambhir sawal hamare samne khada hai, ke is identification ko humko bana ke rakhna hai. Woh jo chehra hai jaativaad ka, voh jo chehra hai manuvaad ka, voh jo chehra hai brahmanvad aur punjivaad ke ghatjor ka, us chehre ko humko expose karna hai. Aur sachmuch ka loktantra, sachmuch ki azadi, sabki azadi, desh mein humko staphit karni hai. Aur vo azadi aayegi, samvidhan se aayegi, parliament se aayegi, loktantra se aayegi, aur sansad se aayegi, yeh hum kehna chahete hain. Aur isiliye, aap tamam sathiyon se appeal hai ke tamam tareeka ka differences ko side rakhte hue jo hamara freedom of expression hai, jo hamara constitution hai, jo hamara mulk hai, uski ekta ke liye hum log ekjuth rehenge, ekmust rahenge.

Aur yeh jo desh todne waali taqatein hain, aatankiyon ko panah denewale log hain: ek sawal, antim sawal poochte hue apni baat ko khatam karunga: ke kaun hai Kasab? Kaun hai Afzal Guru? Kaun hain yeh log jo aaj is stithi main hain ke apne sharir main bum bandh kar hatya karne ko tayyar hain? Agar yeh sawal university mein nahin uthega mujhe nahin lagta university hone ka koi matlab hai. Agar hum violence ko define nahin karenge, kaise hum violence ko dekhte hain. Violence sirf yahi nahin hota hai ke hum bandook lekar kisi ko maar dete hain. Violence yeh bhi hota hai ki samvidhan mein daliton ko adhikar diya gaya hai voh adhikar JNU prashasan dene se mana karta hai. Yeh institutional violence hai. Yeh log justice ki baat karte hain. Kaun tay karega ki justice kya hai? Jab Brahmanvadi vyvastha thi to daliton ko mandir mein nahin ghusne dete the, yahi justice tha. Jab Angrez the to kutton ko Aur Bharatiyon ko restraunt main nahin jaane diya jaata tha, yahi justice tha, is justice ko humne challenge kiya. Aur hum aaj bhi ABVP aur sanghiyon ke justice ko challenge karte hain, ke tumhara justice humare justice ko accomodate nahin karta hai. Agar tumhara justice humare justice ko accomodate karta to hum nahin manenge tumhare justice ko aur nahin manenge tumhari azadi ko. Hum manenge us din azaadi ko jis din har insan ko uska constitutional right milega. Jis din har insan ko uska samvidhanik adhikar dete huye is mulk ke andar barabari ka darza diya jayega, us din hum justice ko manenge.

Doston bahut gambhir paristhiti hai. Kisi bhi taur par JNUSU kisi bhi hinsa ka, kisi bhi atankwadi ka, kisi bhi atankwadi ghatana ka, kisi bhi desh-virodhi activity ka koi samarthan nahin karta hai. Kade shabdon main ek baat phir se jo kuch log, unidentified log, jo Pakistan zindabad ke naare lagaye hain, JNUSU uske kade shabdon main bhatshna karta hai. Saath hi saath ek baat jo hai usko aap sab logon ko share karte hue khatam…yeh sawal hai JNU administration aur ABVP ke liye: Is campus mein, hazaar tarah ki cheezein hoti hain. Abhi aap dhyan se ABVP ka slogan suniye: yeh kehte hain communits kutte. Yeh kehte hain Afzal Guru ke pille. Yeh kehte hain Jihadiyon ke bacche. Humein kya nahin lagta ke agar is samvidhan ne humein nagarik hone ka adhikar diya hai, to mere baap ko kutta kehna, yeh mere samvidhanik adhikar ka hanan hai ki nahin hai? Yeh sawal mein ABVP se poochta hun.

Yeh sawal poochna chahete hain JNU administration se, ke aap kis ke liye kaam karte hain? Kis ke saath kaam karte hain? Aur kis ke aadhar pe kaam karte hain? Yeh baat aaj bilkul spasht ho chuki hai. Ke JNU administration, pehle permission deta hai, phir Nagpur se phone aane ke baad permission leta hai. Yeh jo permission lene aur dene ke prakriya hai, yeh usi tarike se chit tej ho gayi hai is mulk main, jaise fellowship lene aur dene ki prakriya hai. Ke pehle aapko fellowship badhane ke ghoshna ki jayegi, aur phir kaha jayega ke fellowship band ho gaya hai. Yeh sanghi pattern hai. Yeh RSS aur ABVP ka pattern hai. Jis pattern se who mulk to chalana chahte hain. Aur issi pattern se woh JNU administration ko chalana chahte hain. Humara sawal hai JNU ke Vice Chancellor se ke poster laga tha JNU main, parche aaye the mess mein. Agar dikat tha to pehle JNU administration permission nahin deta. Agar permission diya, to kiske kehne se permission cancel kiya, yeh baat JNu administration clear kare, yeh sawal hum sirf poochna chahte hain.

Saath hi saath yeh jo log hain inki sacchai jaan lijiye. Un se nafarat mat kijiyega, Kyonki hum log nafarat kar nahin sakte. Inse mujhe, bada hi daya bhav hai inke prati mujhe hai. Yeh itne uchal rahe hain. Kyon? Inko lagta hai jaise Gajendar Chauhan ko baithaya hai, waise har jageh Chauhan, Diwan, Farman jaari karte rahenge. Yeh Chauhan, Diwan aur Farman ki badaulat yeh har jagah naukari paate rahenge. Isiliye jab yeh jor se bharat mata ki jai chilayein to aap samajh lijiye ki parson inka interview DU mein hone wala hai. Naukari lagegi, deshbhakti peeche chootegi. Naukari lagegi, bharat mata ka koi khayal nahin rahega. Naukari lagegi, tiranga ko to inhonein kabhi mana hi nahin, bhagwa jhanda bhi nahin phirayenge. Main sawal karna chahta hun ke yeh kaisi deshbhakti hai. Agar ek malik apne naukar se sahi bartav nahin karta, agar kisan apne mazdoor se sahi bartav nahin karta hai, agar punjipati apne employee se sahi bartav nahin karta hai, aur ye alag alag channel ke log, jo patrakari ka kaam karte hain 15 hazar rupaiye ke liye. Inke jo CEO hain, woh inse sahi bartav nahin karte hain. Woh kaisi deshbhakti hai? Inki deshbhakti bharat pakistan ke match pe khatam hoti hai.

Isiliye jab ye road pe nikalte hain to kelewale ke saath badtamizi se baat karte hain. Kelawala kehta hai sahab chalis rupaiye darzan bhav hai. Kehtein hat! Tum log loot rahe ho! Tees ka de do. To kelawala jis din mud kar bol dega: tum sabse bade lootere ho, croron loot rahe ho, to keh denge ke ye deshdrohi hai. Aastha amiri aur suvidha se suru hoti hai, amiri aur suvidha pe jakar khatam ho jaati hai.

Main bahut saare ABVP ke doston ko jaanta hun. Main un se poochta hun: ki sach mein tumhare andar mein deshbhakti ki bhavna panapti hai? To kehte hain, bhaiyya kya karein, paanch saal ki sarkar hai, do saal khatam ho gaya hai, teen saal ka talktime bacha hai, jo karna hai isi mein kar dalna hai. To hum bole theek hai kar lo, par yeh bataoe ke JNU ke baare mein jhoot bologe to kal ko tumhara bhi collar koi pakad lega, aur tumhara hi saathi pakad lega, jo aaj kal train main beef check karta hai. Pakad ke tumko lynching karega aur kahega ke tum jo ho desh bhakt nahin ho kyonki tum JNUite ho. Iska khatara samjhte ho? Kehta hai, bhaiyya iska to samjhte hain, isliye to JNU ka jo hashtag bana hai, #shutdownjnu, uska virodh kar rahein hain. Humne kaha bahut badhiya hai bhai sahab! Pehle JNU hashtag ke liye mahaul banao, phir uska virodh karo kyunki rehna to JNU mein hi hai na.

Isiliye main aap tamam JNu ke logon se kehna chahta hun ki abhi chunav hoga march mein aur ABVP ke log Om ka jhanda laga ke aap ke paas aayenge, to un se poochiyega ke hum desh drohi hain, hum jihadi atankvadi hain, hamara vote lekar tum bhi atankvadi ho jaoge. Tab ve kehenge ke nahin nahin aap log nahin hain, vo kuch log the. To hum kehenge, ke vo kuch log the? Ye baat to tumne media mein nahin kahi, tumahar vice chancellor nahin bola, aur tumhara registrar bhi nahin bol raha hai. Aur vo kuch log bhi to keh rahe hain ki hum pakistan zindabad nara nahin lagaye.Voh kuch log bhi to keh rahe hain ki hum atankwad ke paksh main nahin hain. Wo kuch log bhi to keh rahe hain ke hamara permission de kar permission cancel kar diya, yeh hamare democratic rights ke upar attack hai. Par itni baat, inke palle padni wali nahin hai.

Lekin mujhe pura bharosa hai ke yahan ye jo log itne short notice pe aaye hain, unke palle pad raha hai, aur vo log is campus ke ek ek student ke paas jayenge, aur unhein batayenge ke ABVP na sirf is desh ko tod raha hai balki JNU ko tod raha hai. Hum JNU ko tootne nahin denge. JNU zindabad tha, JNu zindabad rahega. Is desh ke andar jitne bhi sangharsh ho rahe hain un sangharshon mein badh chad kar participate karega aur is desh ke andar loktantra ki awaz ko mazboot karte hue, azadi ki awaz ko mazboot karte hue, freeedom of expression ki awaz ko mazboot karte hue, is sangharsh ko aage badhayega. Hum sangharsh karenge, jeetenge, aur in sahbdon ke saath, aap sab ka shukriya, inqilab zindabad, jai bhim, lal salaam!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education, Politics, Right watch

Why our universities are in ferment

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Published in The Hindu today

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Image courtesy Morung Express

As over two thousand students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University gathered peacefully on Saturday to protest police action on campus and the arrest of the President of the Students’ Union, a potentially dangerous stampede was set in motion at the front, when at Rahul Gandhi’s entrance, media people with cameras rushed unheedingly into the thickly clustered people seated on the ground. The situation was exacerbated by a further push into that space by about fifteen Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists holding black flags and shouting slogans against Rahul Gandhi. Within seconds, however, the students conducting the meeting had organized a human chain to hold back and corral the media and the ABVP safely into one corner, and the human chain was then immediately taken up by the hundreds of teachers present. Until Rahul Gandhi left, the handful of ABVP activists continued their slogans, but they could only be heard by those seated in their immediate vicinity.

This is how students and teachers have always maintained, through the gravest provocations, perhaps the most peaceful campus in the country. Debate and dissent have always been part of its ethos but never violence, an ethos unfamiliar to those who only know violent suppression of dissent. Continue reading Why our universities are in ferment →