A GOVERNMENT WHICH FEARS ITS STUDENTS

“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!!’.