“A university should be an
uninhibited space; where all sorts of ideas, including unsafe, dangerous,
violent and obscene, are freely exchanged and discussed. Because youth is a
time for experimenting with thoughts and ideologies and for synthesizing one’s
own truth and forming one’s own world-view”
Fascists governments, throughout
history, have had an uneasy relationship with universities. They have always
tried to control and overpower them, and to crush them if they refuse to toe
the line of fascist agenda. Because fascism and fundamentalism thrive on
half-truths and propaganda, and would stand terribly exposed if independent and
critical thinking is let to bloom unhindered. It is not at all surprising that
the Talibanis dread an educated girl more than anything else. Likewise, we have
at present a government at centre, which is trying its level best to suppress
the free spirited pursuit of knowledge pursued at our universities, as
evidenced by the latest rampage of State force unleashed at Hyderabad Central
University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, FTII etc. The incidents of brute
police force ransacking college hostels; students getting slapped with sedition
charges; party ideologues holding academic posts- these do not bode well for a
democratic republic.
A government, which has miserably
failed to guard the strategic military locations, and keeps on committing
diplomatic bloopers, is trying desperately to salvage its face by showing its might in college campuses. We
have a ruling party at Centre, which has the ignoble legacy of taking
kick-backs even from the coffins meant for the poor soldiers who sacrificed
their lives for the country. Our HRD Minister, who hasn’t been inside any
university herself, would use all resources at her disposal for hounding down
students who ask uncomfortable questions. We have a Home Minister, who is
pathetically clueless as to what is happening at the strategic air-bases of the
country, and who would shamelessly stoop down to quote a fake twitter account
to target student protests. That is the level of incompetence and lack of
vision that has pervaded our ‘strong and mighty’ government. And yes, patriotic
frenzy is shamelessly whipped up to lent a veneer of legitimacy to its
reprehensible acts. Price rise,
inflation, corruption, communal riots,unsafe borders- these burning issues do
not impinge on the patriotic spirit of the rulers. They don’t find anything
un-patriotic in surrendering the common resources of the nation for the
exclusive exploitation by a few crony capitalists. For them patriotism is all
about saluting a piece of cloth and maintaining a particular posture during the
recital of a song. A few students
organize a protest; question the legitimacy of execution of Afzal Guru and
Yakub Memon; quote Ambedkar and Periyar; raise a few slogans- and the patriotic
foundation of ‘Bharat Mata’ is blown to smithereens!!!
As much as one should feel outraged
against them, one should also sympathize with them. For they do not know what
they are doing. They do not know how it feels to be in a free spirited
environment of a college campus, which offers one the intellectual delight
delivered by uninterrupted polemic pursuits on anything under sun. They do not
know how it feels to be enlightened with the nectar of pure knowledge distilled
through constant exchange of ideas. They haven’t experienced youth in its full
bloom, with all its charm, beauty, rebellion, and angst. Fascists, are devoid of the vitality and romanticism of
youth, and they dread and envy it like anything. The only thing they know is to
cover the infertility of their minds with the brute force of power. And if
someone questions their power, then cry foul and charge them with ‘sedition’?
Let’s assume for a moment that there
were ‘anti-India’ slogans raised at the campus. (
Notwithstanding the contra video evidence suggesting that it was a mischief
played by certain ABVP members to tarnish the event). Even then, it would not
be ‘sedition’ under the IPC, within the meaning of the offence explained by
various judgments of our Supreme Court. Mere utterances would not be sedition,
unless accompanied by concrete acts of violence aimed at destabilizing nation.
Be that as it may. A university
should be an uninhibited space; where all sorts of ideas, including unsafe,
dangerous, violent and obscene, are freely exchanged and discussed. Because
youth is a time for experimenting with thoughts and ideologies and for
synthesizing one’s own truth and forming one’s own world-view. So one should
have the freedom to discuss sedition and secession, and also to question the
legitimacy of very existence of Indian Republic and even to think beyond the
limits of the Constitution, within the cerebral atmosphere of a university.
Because, what we need is a vibrant youth with a free spirit of enquiry, who do
not take anything for granted.
And if the ones in power feel that
they are misguided, then engage with them discussions, and correct them. One
should deal with ideas through the medium of ideas only, rather than through
the medium of force and violence. But unfortunately, fascists do not know the
medium of dialogue. They only know the medium of monologue. ‘Monkey baath!!’.
