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New Delhi, Feb 27: The last few days witnessed one of the prestigious colleges in Delhi University Ramjas becoming the epicentre of clashes between two students’ organisations bringing back the memories of the infamous Jawaharlal Nehru campus controversy. A talk was organised in the college. Clashes happened, and stones and other objects were hurled at students and teachers so on and so forth. We all saw the visuals on TVs and social media.
The ruckus also had the daughter of Kargil martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, Gurmehar Kaur speaking strongly against ABVP which led to a flurry social media reaction. A Twitter war erupted after former cricketer Virender Sehwag took on Gurmehar Kaur and actor Randeep Hooda backed him.
Why did this happen? This all happened because Umar Khalid who was involved in the JNU controversy in February 2016 was invited to talk about his work on Bastar, a district of Chhattisgarh, which is the subject of his Ph.D. course. The right-wing organisation affiliated to the RSS, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) clashed with All India Students’ Association (AISA) against the invitation to Khalid and the seminar was cancelled. The protests and clashes in Ramjas have once again turned the spotlight on are Indian really free to exercise their freedom of speech which also includes communicating the shortcomings of the government.
The question that was asked was why was he invited? Why not? That’s what seminars are for right? A talk is organised and a few people are invited to talk on their subject of study and then follows a sane and civilized debate. Isn’t that’s what we all have been taught in colleges? To never accept without questioning. It broadens our minds, and make us understand different views. And that’s the beauty of Arts; it lets you think beyond the laid-out structures of objects and thinking.
If you choke the idea of speaking, questioning, criticising right at the grassroot level- our colleges -you only strangle the hopes of the progress of a free country and polluting the basic idea of an educational institution. You cannot politicise the discourses happening at the universities and fit them into the narrow spaces of everything politics. It is way broader than the imagination of the people trying to disrupt and pollute the environment of the colleges. The ones who have always been in university politics making issues of almost everything cannot understand this.
However, the protests took an ugly turn as apparently not many understand the value of freedom of speech and like to impose their views on others by curbing others’ right to speak and question without fear of the society. And that was followed by the chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai along with abuses, insults, attacks on women and helpless teachers who had come to show solidarity with the students, and gaalis as if Bharat Mata would be proud to see her children turning into a murderous mob, attacking students in her name and snatching their rights to learn through honest discussions.
It was disappointing to see these people, who in the first place turned up to block the entrances of Ramjas to not let Umar Khalid pass and attend the seminar, always ready to shoot rape threats and carry out assaults in the name of India just like what was witnessed in at JNU campus last year in February. Does chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogans justify their nationalism, the topic that has been debatable for a year since JNU row.
This definitely wasn’t a JNU-like movement. There are no parallels that can be drawn except for the fact that Umar Khalid was present in both the cases. But as far as Umar Khalid and the invitation to him is concerned, he was merely asked to present his thesis and studies on Bastar in a Ramjas seminar along with some more panelists. What’s wrong in that? The other was an attack on Ramjas teachers and the teachers who were present at the scene, the ones who have been instrumental in shaping our ideologies including mine. Inviting someone for a talk doesn’t reflect the idea that the institution advocates his views.
In JNU, the ABVP had created a ruckus after Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar organised a talk on 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru who had been hanged to satisfy the “collective conscience” of the people.
Collective conscience, yes. As far as the anti-India slogans are concerned, yes, no one in their sane and civilised mind will tolerate such comments but taking the matter so much into your hands that students start shooting rape threats to women and start beating and choking professors, is not the idea of India. If you are against Narendra Modi or Umar Khalid, your understanding and your choice, but if you are justifying it by resorting to violence, we have no idea where is this Indian society is heading to.
We are an educated lot. Our ideologies are shaped the more we question the accepted structures. Once you resort to violence to justify your disappointment and objection, the whole point of an argument is lost. Let’s not get back to uneducated creatures following what someone has rolled open for us. Let’s not. Let’s make the Delhi University and all other varsities a better place for all of us.
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