Even as the Jawaharlal Nehru University continues to simmer over arrest of its students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar for sedition and questioning of a few others, most students and teachers in other varsities in the city share the views of the agitated JNUites by criticising government action as curtailment of freedom of speech in campuses.
Mahibur Iqbal, a student of MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, said: “This government is crushing dissent so that everyone comes under the fear of the state. The issue of Afzal Guru hanging should have been handled in an argumentative manner and not like this. Such issues are becoming a grave for educational institutions and hijacking the whole situation of patriotism.”
Another Jamia student, Iram Iqbal, added: “JNU has always been a target. If there was an issue with sloganeering, the vice-chancellor’s involvement should have been there. There are traces of fascism in the way the matter has been handled.”
Vijendra Singh Thakur, a student of Ambedkar University, said: “We do not get the point. The slogans are not important. There are millions in India who think that they want a separate state and they have their own reasons. They are normal harmless people like you and me. But what is harmful is a government that clearly has an anti-constitutional agenda to polarise masses. This time they have come up with a better plan to polarise the intelligent minds of the country by fanning the fires of sentimental issue like patriotism and nationalism.”
A student of Delhi University, Ashish, said: “Not all students and teachers can be wrong. Somewhere the government has messed up as the issue has been politicised since the beginning.”
Agreeing with Ashish, M.A. student of Hansraj College Asif Ali added: “Some said they shouted ‘Pakistan Zindabad,’ but I am not able to understand how praising Pakistan is anti-national and hating Pakistan is a sign of a patriot. It would surely hurt the conscience of the insecure people who are scared of criticism and questions. Nobody should be allowed to issue patriotism certificates on the basis of whom they support or oppose.”
“There have been a lot of wrong decisions taken by the government to malign the quality of education and if an organisation is pointing it out, the image maintaining should not concern general public, but the issues.”
Some of the teachers also feel that campuses should not be controlled by politics as it may cause much harm. Rajesh Kumar Jha, joint secretary of Delhi University Teachers’ Association, said: “Although this one incident will not affect the whole democracy, it is a matter of concern. Putting the union president behind bars cannot strengthen the nation, but will rather weaken it. JNU has developed a culture of politics over a long time, which is good for democracy. I would say we are mature enough and should not be provoked by such slogans but we should also not tolerate the mechanism of police or government on campuses.”
Abha Dev, faculty at DU’s Miranda House, expressed her discomfort over the whole issue and said: “The way police is behaving and the government is reacting towards JNU is a way to divert from the attention from the suicide of Rohith Vemula. In this situation, we extend our solidarity to JNU students and teachers’ association and are with them in their fight for Kanhaiya Kumar.”
There are few others who advocate police action in the incident and argue that such anti national sloganeering hurts the sentiments of many. Piyush Rawat, who is a political science student of Ram Lal Anand College, believes that shouting out loud against the nation’s interest is totally wrong.
“I don’t say the charges on Kanhaiya are harming democracy, but the reason for which he is charged surely is. Despite the fact that Afzal Guru who was convicted and was given death sentence for his role in the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament by our judicial system, some elements are supporting their cause by calling him a martyr.”
Ujla Saini, a student of political science at Gargi College, said: “I am totally against the way the students protested and anything anti-national should not be entertained. They claim that they are not anti-national and were just using freedom of speech, but I question them over protesting against killing of Afzal Guru who killed innocent people. It is an intense and political issue, which can’t be resolved on streets by protesting; by doing this they are just deteriorating the environment in college campuses.”
