Anil Anand
First and foremost I am among those who feel that raising anti-national slogans in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) or Jadhavpur University in West Bengal or elsewhere neither has constitutional sanction nor permissible by any stretch of imagination under the right to expression. The right to expression is an important ingredient of any democracy more so in India, it has occasionally been stretched beyond elastic limits by those who either do not believe in the combo of rights, duties and accountability or use it as a tool to foment sentiments for pure political reasons.
There is nothing wrong with the very concept of the JNU which under its charter has enabled the poor and under privileged children from the length and breadth of the country to dream of acquiring higher education. In turn it has enabled them to scale heights in diverse fields of life and make their mark. This apart the current developments in the annals of JNU those have echoed in the portals of historic Jadhavpur University and other places cannot be ignored.
There is no denying the fact that institutions such as JNU have a highly politicised firmament having national and international dimensions. These are mostly based on ideological planks which are either stale or have not been permitted updating to suit the challenges of the 21st century India. Ideally these updated ideologies should have been a means to groom new set up political leadership with a fresh outlook but that has not happened. On the contrary, the hackneyed thought process which is utterly unmindful of the geo-political changes in the region or across the world again seems to have been put to test to achieve narrow and short-term political goals.
The political entrapment of the current JNU syndrome has a unique connect which runs from the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir, currently in a political flux, down to the poll bound southern and eastern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal. Of course at the centre of all this is politically significant UP which became a decider in BJP securing huge majority for Mr Narendra Modi to become Prime Minister and where Assembly polls are due next year.
One thing seems sure that the Kashmir centric discourse of the current JNU disturbances has pushed back the government formation exercise involving BJP and PDP. This notwithstanding the sudden and unscheduled air-dash made to Srinagar by BJP’s interlocutor Mr Ram Madhav to explore afresh the possibilities of government formation. Hard pressed to find her feet in the post Mufti Mohammed Sayeed scenario, in the face of a non-cooperative ally, his daughter and heir apparent Ms Mehbooba Mufti surely would be rattled by these developments. Here on one does not fathom an immediate decision on her part to become chief minister with BJP’s backing unless the Centre decides on a massive rethink on issues such as AFSPA, handing over NHPC managed power projects to the state and finally contentious Art 370.
After all she had delayed the government formation to be seen as flexing muscles and not surrendering tamely before the bigger alliance partner. This was to allay a common perception in Kashmir Valley that the father-daughter duo had facilitated entry of the BJP-RSS in the area, and that she now means business and firmly stands for Kashmir cause, hitherto on her own conditions. But the JNU developments and its mishandling by the Centre have further shrunk space for Ms Mufti and enhanced BJP’s desperation.
On a broader scale these developments are seen to be politically helping BJP and CPI (M) in the context of Assembly elections in various states. It would be difficult to decipher the impressionable mind of young protesting activists as to what it entailed to them but there is an iota of surety that the political parties that to some extent also include the Congress have an axe to grind.
What started from JNU and echoed in Jadhavpur University has its anchoring in West Bengal Assembly elections with a Left perspective. And the confirmation to this effect came from none other than CPI (M) general secretary Mr Sitaram Yechury that the issue has already assumed political overtones which was amply reflected in the Tripura Assembly bi-election. Under the garb of these developments if the CPI (M) is expecting to retrieve its huge support base particularly the minorities in West Bengal from the clutches of Trinamool Congress, so is the Congress aiming to achieve a similar goal also in the neighbouring Assam and far off Kerala.
The BJP’s new poll mantra seems to be generating patriotic fervour of varied hues as means to ensure polarisation in a big way. The party seems to be working at a mechanism to achieve polarisation based on a patriotic theme. The JNU developments and related fallout in Patiala House courts precincts which saw ruffians under the garb of advocates taking on the higher judiciary and bashing journalists on duty convey the obvious.
Even more disturbing is the response of the BJP-led Government and the party itself. There is no structured reaction from the Government and the party is still to act against a rowdy Delhi MLA who has not only justified attacking a CPI activist in full public view but rued that he did not possess a gun to shoot him. This is another matter that the party has acted with alacrity to reach out to Mehbooba Mufti on Government formation.
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